


Fields of Gold

by gracieluu



Series: Out of the Ashes: A Trilogy [1]
Category: The Hobbit (Jackson Movies), The Hobbit - All Media Types, The Hobbit - J. R. R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings (Movies), The Lord of the Rings - All Media Types, The Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Blend of book and movie, Company focus, Dwarf Culture & Customs, F/M, Gen, Slow Build, story telling
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-07-20
Updated: 2017-12-16
Packaged: 2018-02-09 15:19:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 34
Words: 150,395
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1987818
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gracieluu/pseuds/gracieluu
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This little story, or big depending on how you look at it, is not something that you would expect to hear about. It is not a story of great deeds, or about a great hero. She wasn't a hero. She was a fisher from Alaska doomed to a life she never would have chosen and quest that wasn't even hers. Her adventure was entirely unexpected. Or at least, that's how the story went.</p><p>Part of series, but acts as a stand alone.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. My Dear Wenny

Chapter One: My Dear Wenny

* * *

"I suppose this story starts in the most expected of places, my dear Wenny. That is, as one would assume, the beginning. Not all beginnings are the same, just as not all endings are the same. This one in particular is more uncommon than most, but that is not to say, however, that it is altogether uncommon. Our little story, or big depending on which way you look at it, is not something that you would expect to hear about. For it is not a story of great deeds, or about a great hero, although there are some involved. It is not about those who are powerful and strong, but about those that are quite the opposite. This story is, while unexpected as some would say, entirely expected and extraordinary. It does not deal with anything that is above all great and powerful, but something much more subtle and grand in its own way."

"I don't get it."

Gimli son of Gloin let out a small exasperated sigh. Elves. He looked over at the small elleth, trying his best not to look annoyed at her almost instant interruption. "Lassie, you don't know anything yet. Of course you don't get it."

"What am I trying to get?"

"I am getting there." Gimli said simply, shifting in his cushy armchair. He folded his thick arms over his chest, fixing her with a look that was clearly meant to silence any further questions she had. "Now just hush up for a moment and listen."

He had not intended to be the little elf's personal storyteller when he had decided to come visit Legolas in Mirkwood. He had intended to drink large amounts of ale, amounts that some would consider excessive, and teach the elf prince a thing or two about proper hunting with an axe. Gimli had intended to relax during his visit. He had been traveling between dwarven kingdoms for far longer than he cared to think about, and felt, for not the first time, that he deserved a little time for himself. The relaxation that he had counted on seemed almost impossible the second Legolas' young child had set her eyes upon Gimli, laughing with her father about some joke he wouldn't care to share in polite company.

She had, unfortunately, latched herself onto him so completely and thoroughly it was almost impossible for Gimli to get even a moment's peace without her forcing her company on him in some way or another.

That is not to say that he didn't find himself enjoying her overzealous company. Of course he would never really admit that to anyone. He barely admitted it to himself. He had a reputation to maintain after all.

Liluwen, or Wenny as she preferred to be called much to her parent's chagrin, was more than a little interested in dwarves. She had never seen one before, resulting in an unyielding need to hear stories and tales about the race she knew so little about. It had been admirable at first, and at times flattering to Gimli's already outrageous ego, but he had later found he was running out of tales that would fascinate a child as young as Wenny.

Gimli had just about dried himself out of ideas when Legolas suggested one more final tale before he would relieve the dwarf of his storytelling duties.

The particular story, the one that he was currently struggling to even begin to tell to an impatient Wenny, was one that he had many told many years ago. His father, Gloin, had held it very dear to his heart, only telling his son after many long years had passed since its end. Even then he had struggled to complete it. It had always seemed to cause him pain. Gimli had always been fascinated by it, despite the fact that he considered himself far too old to enjoy fairy tales, and he liked to think over the story when he found himself with free time and on his own.

When Legolas had mentioned it Gimli knew that Wenny would enjoy it as much as Gimli had the first time he had heard it. She had enjoyed all of the other stories he had told her. Why wouldn't she enjoy his personal favorite?

The beginning of this particular story telling session had started out like the majority of the other ones before it. It was raining outside and colder than it had been in the previous months. Wenny hadn't been able to play outside for quite some time, resulting in her listening to Gimli's stories to pass the long hours inside. Wenny had come barreling into Gimli, ignoring the fact that he had been blissfully asleep in one of the many cushy chairs by the warm hearth in the main hall that the royal family occupied. She begged him to tell her yet another one of his 'Dwarvy Fairy Tales.' She had practically shoved him out of the chair in order to get him to comply with her wishes.

Gimli had thought dwarves had the monopoly on stubbornness. Apparently, he had been woefully incorrect.

Wenny had seated herself in front of him, ignoring the tittering from the maids that tended to her as she placed one of her small pale hands on her chin. She had peered up at him expectantly. She had barely let him get out the first sentence before she was cutting across him, much like her mother had a tendency to do, a slight scowl on her childish face.

"I am listening to you, Gimli." Wenny whined, narrowing her large blue eyes considerably. "I just don't understand."

Gimli let out another exasperated sigh. Wenny was far too much like her mother for her own good.

"I haven't explained a thing yet, Lassie." Gimli shifted into the chair even further, moving closer to the fire as he went. "Now stop the squirming and whining and listen to me for a moment."

"But…" Wenny trailed off when she saw the sharp yet good-natured look on the redheaded dwarf's face.

"Now, where was I?" Gimli tapped one of his thick fingers on his beard, thinking back to before the little elf had distracted him with her incessant babbling and badgering. "Ah yes. Are you going to agree to listen without interrupting too much?"

"I can try." Wenny huffed, scooting into a more comfortable position to listen to him better.

"Good. Now this story starts in a place that is, as yer Great Uncle Gloin tells it, entirely unfamiliar and uncharted to most folk of this world…"

* * *

Emelia Montgomery was not, as most would assume, entirely enthused about the prospect of going ice fishing with her small family. It had been a weekly actively that she was more than certain she could do without ever again. Spending so much time hunched over the ice, straining her eyes to see the dark blob that indicated a fish, made her feel like she was much older than her eighteen years. It made her bones hurt, ache like she was an old woman, and it made her skin feel like she had just been peeled like a potato.

Her father insisted it was family bonding time as well as being a lucrative business. Her mother insisted it was romantic and scenic out on the deserted lakes. Her brother insisted it was delightfully fun and adventurous. For her part, Emelia insisted it was nothing short of hellish torture.

It just so happened that the Montgomery family was in the fishing business, of all things. They spent most of their time out on the massive ocean just outside their home town or sitting huddled together in little ice fishing tents, trying to find the best catch of the day to sell to the local grocery store or restaurants, or restaurants considering the dismal size of the 'town'. They made their honest living out of fish and her parents, Fred and Hannah, considered it to be a whole family affair.

It was a family affair that unfortunately involved Emelia missing out on going away to college for the foreseeable future.

It was not an intended slight or punishment on her parent's part, nor would she ever assume it was. They were the good sort of people that wanted only the absolute best for their children, and that included education, but they had no means to afford to send her to college on their fisherman salaries. They had promised, repeatedly, that she would get to go when they made enough extra money to afford tuition in a year's time, when the big fishing season came again. Emelia had her doubts, but she kept those miserable thoughts to herself.

The thought of having to endure another frigid season on the ice made Emelia's entire body run cold in a way that the temperature never could.

That morning had been like any other. Her family had piled into the jeep, dutifully ignoring the piercing glares the oldest child as they had driven off to their destination. It wasn't a very far drive, but to Emelia it felt like an eternity. Of course, anything that involved mandatory ice fishing always felt like an eternity.

Her brother, Edward, was more than enthused at the prospect of spending on of his Saturdays on the ice. He was happier than most normal eight year olds should have been, considering the dismal activity that was before them. His enthusiasm made Emelia's mood even worse.

She hated the ice almost as much as she hated the fish.

It seemed so cruel to her that they had to be combined into one day long thoroughfare.

The Montgomerys, or the Monties as some people in the small town of Kessog, Alaska referred to them as, were as liked as they came. Fred Montgomery was older than most of the fathers in town, considering the respective ages of his children, and showed it through his undeniable wisdom. With his shock of red hair and bottle green eyes, he was often taken for being much more childlike and soft than he actually was. He was smart, as most would attest to, and never let a single family go without, even if that meant more often than not sacrificing his own family's creature comforts in the process.

Perhaps that was what attracted Hannah Montgomery to him in the first place. Or perhaps it was the fact that he was, despite his age, still devilishly handsome by most women's standards.

Whatever the reason, Mr. and Mrs. Montgomery had stayed together for far longer than anyone would have expected, and defying all odds, were still sickeningly happy.

Emelia had always liked that about them, even with their over the top public displays of affection. For some reason, however, as they made their way to their ice tent she couldn't help but scowl at their hands intertwined over the center console of their car.

Her brother, as ever unaware as always, hummed in the seat next to her, completely ignoring the dark looks Emelia was throwing about the car.

The family continued in the almost stifling silence until they came to the edge of the perpetually frozen river that the family used for their fishing sight. Edward immediately jumped out of the car, slipping slightly on the ground before bounding over to the side of his father's door. He always was the first to get in the car and the last to want to leave the tent.

Emelia was quite the opposite. She took her sweet time getting out of the car, hating herself just a little bit more when the wind bit across her face and limbs.

Her mother, bless her, had the decency to shoot her a sympathetic look from behind her threadbare scarf before reaching out a gloved hand to pull her along to the red fishing tent.

The tent, or Dante's Inferno, as Emelia liked to refer to it as on her more cynical days, was positioned almost in the middle of the river, standing out fabulously against all the white snow in the background. It was small, as was to be expected, and altogether simple. It was heated, mercifully, and sparsely furnished with various fishing implements and obviously old hand-me-down furniture that her father had found at the only thrift store for a thousand miles.

Emelia knew better than to complain about the less than warm setting. She had done so enough when she was much younger and hadn't accomplished anything. Besides, she was currently in the process of trying to prove to her parents that she was, in fact, mature enough and deserving enough of them sending her to college. She didn't imagine they were very convinced. She tried her best despite the fact that college seemed like such a faraway prospect it was almost horrifyingly laughable.

She threw herself into one of the chairs in the tent as soon as her family had reached it, crossing her arms over her chest in an attempt to keep her body warm. Even though the tent was heated, it still felt like she was slowly freezing to death from the outside in.

"Cheer up, Emmy." Fred Montgomery said loudly, ignoring the blistering wind that was making his voice sound so slight it was almost nonexistent. "We're going to have fish for dinner."

"We always have fish for dinner, Copernicus." Emelia said sinking into her chair even further. He shot her a smirk before walking out of the tent, taking the tools to cut a hole in the ice with him.

"Sassy." Hannah said from her spot over by the front of the tent. "Yet sweet." Her mother winked playfully at her, before turning her attention the boy bouncing up and down beside her excitedly, grabbing her hand and tugging on all the fabric that he could reach. He was pushing his red curls out of his face, only to have them fall back with his enthusiastic movements.

"Yes, Eddy, we know. We're going fishing." Hannah said, bending down to plant a soft kiss on the small boy's forehead. "Now go help your father find a good spot."

Edward immediately bolted out of the tent, slipping slightly on the ice and out of his mother's sight. She let out a small laugh at the sight of him tugging at his father some ways away before she turned back to face her other child still sitting moodily in the family tent. Hannah pulled her hat off, allowing her auburn colored hair to fall around her red tinged ears. She brought her hand up to brush it out of her eyes as she moved across the tent to place herself in a seat across from Emelia.

She smiled at her, in a only a way a mother would know how, instantly sensing the exact reason for her daughter's foul mood.

"I will make you some soup for tonight."

"Fish soup." Emelia said, hating how moody her voice came out. She paused, seeing her mother's serene smile fall ever so slightly at her woods before she backtracked completely. "I'm sorry mom. That was rude wasn't it?"

"Well yes, but it's not like we expect anything else from you." She said, an uncomfortable truth lacing her words.

"Mom!"

"I'm only kidding, Emmy." Hannah said, tucking her short hair behind her ear with her freezing hands.

Emelia opened her mouth to respond, only to be cut off by her brother bounding into the tent, spilling snow from his clothes all over the dirty floor.

"Emmy, there's so many fish. You have to come see." He launched himself into Emelia's lap so suddenly it knocked the wind out of her, leaving her spluttering, somewhat more for dramatic effect for Edward.

Hannah laughed at the sight of her two children, leaning back into her own chair more comfortably. Emelia wrapped her arms around her brother, pulling him closer into her chest. Edward squirmed in her arms, pushing against her body to get out of her tight grasp.

"Yea, alright Eddy, I'll come look at the fish." She pushed him off her lap, sending him to the cold floor of the tent, laughing at the look on his face.

"How very nice of you, Emmy." Hannah said, smiling even wider at Emelia.

Emelia stood up, bowing sarcastically at her mother, before she moved over to the pile of fishing implements that sat haphazardly collected in the corner of the shabby tent. Her family, while not considered the poorest in the small town, didn't have a large amount of extra money to spare in order to buy new fishing equipment as much as they would have liked. The result was tools that were altogether shabby and worn. The hooks weren't as sharp as they used to be and the nets frayed at the ends. Emelia knew better than to mention it to her already stressed out parents.

She dug through them until she found the cold metal of the fishing spear that she always used on her family's outings. The spear had always seemed rather brutal and garish to her, but it got the job done so she ignored her feelings about it.

She threw it over her shoulder, keeping her gaze on her mother so she wouldn't accidently hit her with the tip of the spear. She followed after her overly excited brother with a scowl on her face.

The moment Emelia stepped out of the tent she felt the familiar bite of the wind on her already frozen face. It howled and hacked at her, reminding her vividly of why she wanted out of Kessog, Alaska so badly it was an almost constant pain for her.

She could see her brother crouched down by the ice hole, nudging their father every single time a fish would pass by close enough for him to see. His shock of red hair was shining out against the blank slate of white snow, as was their father's, making it very easy to spot the two of them. Even from her spot across the way from them, she could see that they had already caught a fair amount of fish and placed them in the ice-filled buckets sitting next to them on the ice.

"Emmy, you'll never believe how big a fish I caught." Emelia had to fight the snort of laughter at seeing him slipping across the ice in excitement as he brought her over to the hole that they were using for fishing.

Her father peered up at her as she approached him, daring to her shoot her one of his characteristic smirks. "Be careful of the ice over there, Emelia. It is very thin." He gestured over his shoulder with his thickly gloved hand. "I am not coming in after you."

"That's very sweet." Emelia said, plopping herself down on the frigid ice next to a bouncing Edward. "I wouldn't come in after you either."

"You're moodier than normal." Her father said, turning back to face the fishing pole in front of him. "Am I to assume it's one of those girly problems that only your mother would want to hear about?"

Emelia rolled her eyes, turning her attention away from her smirking father and onto her little brother. Edward was leaning over the edge of the hole, sticking his little hands into the water, ignoring the fact that the water was soaking through and causing his hands to freeze up. He swirled them around, lifting them up occasionally, before sticking them back in. Emelia placed her hand on his back, pulling him back away from the edge ever so slightly.

By the time her mother had finally dragged herself from the tent the other three had been sitting on the ice for what felt like hours. She came shuffling out, holding her arms around her so tight Emelia thought they might fall off. She had brought them snacks at one point before quickly retreating back to the warmth of the tent. Edward had long ago grown bored of watching his father and sister fish and had taken to skipping around on the top of the ice, much to the chagrin of the older members of his family.

"Are you almost ready to go?" Hannah asked, peering into the bucket of caught fish, her eyes watering blearily the entire time. "It will be getting dark soon."

"I think I'm done." Fred said, standing up, shaking the soreness out of his long limbs. "I am sure Eddy is freezing by this point."

Hannah let out a small laugh against the wind, turning away to look for their youngest child. Emelia stood up from her spot on the ice, feeling all of the joints in her body creaking and squeaking with the movement.

"Where is he?" Hannah asked, causing the other two to look around.

"He was…" Fred trailed off, looking around.

"He's over there." Emelia said, pointing over to the small figure playing around not fifty yards away from them.

Hannah suddenly let out a large cry of surprise, gripping her husband's shoulder so tightly Emelia could see the tension through the gloves on her hands. "That's the thin ice, Fred." She immediately started running, not even bothering to look back at the other two.

"That's the thin ice!" Hannah screamed, flapping her arms around in a desperate attempt to get Edward to look over at her.

Emelia and Fred immediately sped off after her, slipping and sliding all over the untouched ice. They left their fishing implements where they had been sitting, leaving them completely forgotten as they ran as fast as they could.

Emelia felt her entire chest constrict when she saw Edward fall through the ice.

Her mother let out a loud scream. Never in her life had she run so fast. She ran faster than her father, which was odd considering the considerable height difference. She had passed by him before she even realized it, before passing up her mother.

She didn't even think before she threw herself in the water after her brother.

The water was so cold it literally turned her entire body to stone when she came in contact with it. It surrounded her entire form so completely it hurt. She felt herself convulse for a moment before she finally managed to get her bearings. She could see her brother, despite the pain in her entire body, grasping at the impossibly cold water. He looked so small flailing about like he was. His hair, which was plastered to his face, stood out famously against the dark water.

She pushed herself towards him, hating how weighed down she was by her thick winter clothes in the water, fighting tooth and nail to get to him before it was too late. She could see him panicking, which made her panic, as he struggled to get back up to the surface.

He looked so small against the never ending blackness of the water.

By the time she had reached him, he didn't acknowledge her arms wrapping around his small body. He bobbed in her arms, weighing her down even more. She pushed her already frozen legs towards what she perceived was the surface.

She had barely broken the top by the time her parents were pulling Edward out of her frozen arms, dragging him onto the ice. She bobbed for a moment, trying to keep herself above the surface before she felt herself sink back under the water, like something was grabbing her around the ankle to yank her back.

Everything was happening much quicker than she would have liked. She had grown up surrounded by the cold. She had fallen through the ice before. Everybody fell through the ice at some point. But those times it was different. Those times she was able to get out, she was able to save herself. Emelia, who had always been a fast swimmer, felt like she couldn't even move her body. The second she had made sure Edward was to the surface, her whole body seized, making it impossible for her to fight the pull beneath her.

It sucked at her, wrapping around her so completely it was painful. Her face hurt, her legs felt like they were broken, her stomach felt like it was filled with tepid, diseased water.

She didn't feel like herself, even though she knew who she was.

The world spun above her head, making her feel like she was having a mental breakdown.

Looking back on it, she should have known something wasn't right. She should have seen the black water lightening around her in her last moments of consciousness. She had enough sense about her, or at least she thought she had had enough sense to know that it wasn't normal for her feet to be pulled like someone was underneath her, yanking her further and further down.

She should have, but she didn't.

She didn't even realize when she had blacked out completely, floating further and further down in the murky wat…

* * *

"That makes no sense, Gimli." Wenny said suddenly, causing the dwarf to pause mid-sentence.

"Has anyone ever told you that you ask too many questions?" Gimli said, grumbling slightly at the interruption.

Wenny crossed her arms over her chest at the insult, shooting Gimli a very dark look. It was meant to be intimidating but in all actuality it came off as being rather comical. "You said this story was exciting."

"It is." Gimli said, leaning back into his chair, wondering why he ever attempted to start telling this story to her in the first place. "If you would be quiet long enough for me to tell it you would know that."

Wenny rolled her eyes before scooting herself closer to the fire. Gimli knew her patience was minimal, a trait that he had always admired. It was almost as small as a dwarf's, and almost as biting when it wore out. She was only eight years old, but she already had the attitude of her full grown mother.

"Now, where was I?" Gimli said, stroking his beard. Turing his gaze on the roaring fire that he had been sitting next to for almost the entirety of his visit to the halls of Mirkwood, trying his best to remember the way his father had told him the story so many years ago for the first time.


	2. A Stupid Virtue

"So she died?"

Gimli had not even been able to get the next sentence of the story out of his mouth before Wenny had interrupted him again. She was frowning, running her fingers through her pale hair, using her childlike desperation to figure out the rest of the story before Gimli told it to her.

"Why would you assume that?" Gimli asked, feigning annoyance.

"She drowned." Wenny said simply, like her answer effectively ended the conversation. "She would have died."

"If I had left people for dead all of the times that it had appeared life had left their body, I would have very few friends." Gimli paused, looking around the hall before addressing the little elf in a hushed tone. "And you might not have been born. So I suggest you hush up and let me get on with our little tale."

"Wait," Wenny moved closer to the dwarf, practically forcing herself into her lap. "What do you mean I might not have been born?"

"One story at a time Liluwen."

"Fine." She huffed slightly, settling herself down comfortably into his lap, ignoring the roll of his eyes at her actions. She reached her minuscule hands out to play with his beard, tugging slightly harder than was necessary. "You may proceed."

"Why thank you Princess." Gimli said with a derisive snort. He paused for a moment before opening his mouth to continue the story, ignoring, albeit playfully, the small hands tugging at his red beard.

* * *

Emelia should have known better to think that she would have been lucky enough to drown in that frozen river. It would have been entirely too easy, and entirely too simple. And she knew better to think that anything in her life would be simple. It hadn't been in the eighteen years previous, so it was rather preposterous to assume it would start then. She had lost consciousness very early on in her quick descent to the bottom of the river. She had felt her body bobbing and slipping further down, but realized that she couldn't even do anything about it. It felt like she had been shoved into another body that she had no control over, and even less awareness of her surroundings.

When she had blacked out she had thought she was dying.

The lights, which her mother always told her happened when you died, filled up her entire vision. She was so cold it hurt, and then there was nothing.

The nothing, as she had come to refer to it as in the months that followed, was some of the worst of her entire life. She felt like nothing. Emelia couldn't remember what faces looked like. She couldn't even remember herself.

It felt like an eternity before she was finally aware of her body.

At first the warmth in her limbs was barely recognizable. She was so cold the change in them was almost completely unnoticeable. The feeling was painfully slow in returning to her body. When it all of the feeling was back in her body she realized that she was, ironically, still bobbing around in some body of water. It was much warmer than she remembered ever experiencing. With the exception of the only heated pool she had been in on the singular family vacation the Montgomery's had taken, she had never actually been in a large body of naturally warm water. That kind of thing just didn't happen in Alaska. That fact alone was enough to send her into a semi-panic.

She had begun to ponder if she was really dead when her body collided painfully with something very hard and very smooth.

She had not even realized that her body had been moving until she spluttered about, dipping down under the surface of the water briefly before she finally managed to grip onto the hard abject for dear life.

Emelia did not consider herself to be a person who was prone to easy panic by any means. That being said, she felt her entire body convulse in sheer horror as she got her first look at her surroundings.

It was green. And warm. She could feel the heat of the air on her wet skin, making her feel like she was suffocating in the new climate. Of course it wasn't really the climate that had her panicking. It was more the fact that she was certainly not in Kessog, Alaska anymore.

She tried to push herself into the object, which turned out to be a very large moss covered rock, even further.

Her heart was beating erratically as she tried to take in everything around her.

It wasn't possible. She had just been in Alaska. It had been snowing and below freezing temperatures. She had been with her family. Her mother was going to make her an awful fishy soup.

She struggled to remain attached to the giant rock, feeling hot salty tears slipping down from her eyes, blending in with the warm water already clinging to her face. She was positive she was dead. There was no other explanation as to why she was currently molesting a rock in an attempt to keep from downing in some random river, still covered in her thick winter clothes. They were weighing her down, making her feel like she weighed much more than she actually did.

She felt her hands scrapping against the rock as she struggled to hold on, her entire body wracking with painful sobs. She ignored the stinging sensation from the cuts that she knew she must have on her hands as she clung desperately to the only thing that seemed real to her.

There were rocks in Alaska.

She tried to press her waterlogged body into the rock even further, feeling the horrendous pangs in her chest as her breast bone pressed into the hard surface. She paid no mind to the pain. It seemed so miniscule compared to the panic she was experiencing.

She sobbed even harder as the water flowed around her body, trying to pull her back down the river. Never in her life had she ever felt so horribly terrified and alone all at the same time. She had not even spent a night in any other city besides Kessog. It was snowy and cold all year, never even getting above freezing for a good portion of it. She had never even seen warmer weather. Her parents hadn't been able to afford to send the family on a vacation.

Emelia gripped onto the rock for what felt like hours before she finally realized that she needed to get out of the impossibly warm water.

She struggled to pulled herself to bank, slipping and sliding on the rocks that led up to the side. She had finally managed to get herself up into a standing position when she lost her footing again, sending her crashing down into the shallows of the river with a loud splash. It felt like the universe was conspiring against her as she felt the top of her wrist scrape painfully on one of the many rough rocks that lined the bank.

She used her other arm to pull herself the rest of the way onto the bank, landing in a small pathetic heap. She pulled her legs up into her sore chest, sobbing into the thick material that covered her knees. They were ripped and ratty from her little trip down the unknown river, making her feel even worse.

Her mother had bought those pants for her as an eighteenth birthday present.

It wasn't until darkness began to fall over that she finally stopped her crying.

She sat up, feeling the soreness in her body from lying haphazardly on rocks for the past six hours, looking around her surroundings.

Emelia had long ago forgone the idea and notion that she was dead. Her afterlife would not have included floating down some godforsaken river in the middle of a bleeding forest. She wouldn't have been able to get hurt if she had been dead. She would have liked more snow.

She struggled to lift her tired body off the ground, stumbling slightly on the uneven surface. Her entire body cracked and creaked with the motion, making her feel like she was much older than only eighteen years old.

The place that she found herself in was pretty. As much as she hated herself for thinking so, it was undeniable. The trees were just in the first blushes of summer, making their vivid green stick out even in the dim light of evening. The warm climate rolled over her winter clad body, instantly causing perspiration to spring up underneath her damp clothes. She, almost hesitantly, pulled off her out layers, before folding the coat and top layer of pants on the ground beside her.

The sight of the clothes that her mother had given her lying on the ground made more, hot, fresh tears spring up painfully in her eyes.

It seemed so cruel that she was alone in some place she had never even been to. It seemed like a punishment. Some form of getting her back for some crime she had no recollection of committing. Whatever the reason, it seemed hardly fair.

She felt her body getting chilled as the evening slowly turned into night with her standing on the bank. She felt colder from fear than anything else. When she had washed up on the bank she hadn't had anything useful on her person. No fishing knife, which she usually kept on her person when her family went fishing. No spear, no matches, no means of communication. She had nothing. The thought of that alone was enough to make her want to curl up in another little ball and wait for the morning to come.

She shook her head, willing herself out of her dismal mood long enough to get enough sense in her to find a place to settle down for the night.

Emelia knew how to do that well enough.

She bent down to gather up her discarded top layer before moving tentatively towards the underbrush that was near the river. She did not relish the idea of spending the night in a bush, but she knew better than to plop herself down on the rocks out in the open.

She would just be asking for some wandering maniac to kill her if she did that.

She came upon a bush, taking note of the fact that she didn't think it was poisonous, before throwing down her top layer of pants as a makeshift pillow. She crawled underneath it, dragging her still slightly damp winter coat over her body to use as a blanket. It stuck to her body uncomfortably, adding to her ever mounting sense of dread and panic.

She wasn't home and that scared her.

She didn't know if her brother was okay and that scared her.

And above all else, she was completely alone for the first time in her life and that scared her so completely it physically hurt.

She wasn't ashamed to admit to anybody who asked her in the coming future that she cried herself onto a horribly uncomfortable and nightmare ridden sleep.

Emelia had hoped that by going to sleep she would wake up and be in her nice warm bed, pushing her brother out of her room for waking her up prematurely. Perhaps if she slept, she would wake up to her mother smiling at her, tucking some of her wild hair behind her ear, before ushering her to the kitchen for a haphazard breakfast.

Perhaps she would wake up and her little nightmare in the river wouldn't have ever happened.

The fates were not on her side, it seemed. For she did not wake up in her own comfy bed, with her family around her telling her that it was all just a horribly cruel dream. She didn't even wake up by her own choosing. She had barely lain down on her makeshift pillow when she was being hoisted into the air so quickly it knocked all of the breath out of her completely. It appeared that her plan of staying in the bushes to avoid being set upon in her sleep had been a supremely bad one.

"What is it?" A voice said from somewhere besides her, forcing her to realize that she wasn't, as she had sincerely hoped, still dreaming. "It looks tasty don't it?"

Emelia barely had time to let out a scream when she felt herself swinging back and forth some fifteen feet above the ground that she had just been sleeping on. She let out a cry of surprised before she felt her body being squeezed very tightly. She squirmed even more when she felt a very intense pressure on her abdomen that spread form her middle all the way up and down the rest of her body. She felt the blood rush to her head form being held upside down, making her already hazy vision even worse.

"Let's cook 'er." Another voice said. She swung around for a moment before she felt a very painful jab to her legs, causing even more shooting pain.

"How do yer know it's a she?" A third and much higher pitched voice said.

"Look at 'er." If Emelia wasn't experiencing vertigo, she certainly was after that comment. She was swung around so suddenly it sent her entire head spinning. "Look at 'er chest."

Emelia was quite certain she was being punished when she got her first look at her captures. They were some of the ugliest things she had ever seen in her entire life. They were huge, that much was clear by the fact that one of them was holding her up in the air by just her mid-section. They might have alarmed her less if she had ever seen something that looked remotely like them. They looked like a weird human cross between the backside of an elephant and something that would come out of the nose of a particularly unhealthy influenza sufferer.

They did not look particularly bright, what with their dull crisscrossed eyes and blank expressions. Nor did they exude any sense of cleverness about what to do with something that they caught besides eating them. They snuck worse than any fish guts Emelia had ever smelt and covered their sparsely hairy bodies with much less than she would have ever considered appropriate.

They would have looked laughable if it weren't for the fact that one of them was poking her already sore chest with one of its meaty fingers, causing her to sway with every touch.

"She's so tiny." The smallest one said, spitting slightly from behind its brown teeth. "She won' even be a fillin'."

"Then we keep 'er 'till we find somethin' to go with 'er." The one that had been poking her chest said, revealing his air of authority to the other one.

Emelia was rather ashamed with her flight or fight reflexes. She should have been kicking, punching, biting, and head-butting her way away from the massive creatures. She should have, but for some unfathomable reason, she just couldn't bring her body to respond to her brains panic signals. She should have been fighting to get out, but she just couldn't. All she could do was sit there and sway back and forth, rather stupidly, and listen as the three monsters discussed the way they would eat her.

"The sun is comin'." One of them said suddenly, stopping the other two's argument. "Let's go."

Emelia could feel her consciousness slipping for the second time in what she assumed was a day. Being held upside down did not help her already feeble mental fortitude. She felt her eyes fluttering shut, becoming tight from all of the blood flooding her brain.

Maybe if she was lucky, they would just eat her while she was sleeping.

* * *

"I think that is enough for tonight Gimli."

Gimli looked up suddenly from the little elf child that was leaning into his chest, listening so intently to his story she had stop playing with his beard subconsciously. She still held onto the long red strands, pulling on them slightly, but her hands had gone almost completely slack in her little lap, making it appear as if his beard was a very furry blanket that covered her very small body. She immediately looked up at the sound of the voice, disappointment written all over her pale face.

Legolas was looking down at both of them with a slight smile on his angular face. He had been listening, with the utmost discretion, from across the room. He had noticed the way his daughter's eyes lit up with every single word his old friend said, capturing her youthful fascination. He hated to interrupt them, but as luck would have it, it was well past her predetermined bed time. He had delayed it as long as possible, even allowing himself to slip away to speak with his father before he went to bed, but he knew that he wouldn't be able to wait forever.

"Oh Ada, you have to listen to this story." Wenny said, not even bothering to move from her spot in Gimli's lap.

"Of course she likes my story when you're here Legolas." Gimli said, grumbling slightly. "Yer little offspring is a proper menace when left alone."

"I wasn't alone, Gimbles," Wenny paused when Gimli spluttered angrily at the ludicrous nickname. "I was with you."

"I quite like that name little Liluwen." Legolas said simply, reaching his arms out to pull her out of the grumbling dwarf's lap. "Gimbles." He ignored the foul look that Gimli sent him as he situated his daughter in his arms. "Your mother is waiting for you. She says it's time for your bath."

"I don't like baths." Wenny whined, earning a very loud chuckle from the dwarf.

"You're positive she is elf kind?" Gimli asked, earning a glare from all of the elves in the vicinity.

"Just because I don't like baths it doesn't make me a dwarf." Wenny said, laying her head on her father's shoulder.

"No, but it does make you very similar to yer Ma." Gimli laughed out loud when he saw her nose wrinkle up at the accusation.

"Ada, I don't want to go to bed." Wenny whined, sounding very, just as Gimli had said, to her mother. "I want to hear the rest of the story."

"Oh don't worry, little Wenny," Gimli said, lifting his own tired body from the chair for the first time in hours. "There is still much more to tell."

"Patience is a virtue." Legolas said simply, placing a soft kiss on his daughter's pale forehead. "The story will wait for you, I am sure, as will Master Gimli."

"Patience is a very stupid virtue." Weeny said, leaning back away from Legolas' shoulder, crossing her little arms over her chest in frustration. It was during moments like that, that he was positive he was looking at a miniature of his wife. The similarities between the two of them were starling at the best of times.

"I think the little princess needs her sleep." Gimli said, barely able to control his laughter at the antics of the little girl. "She gets cranky when she is tired."

"Emelia will still be there when I wake up?" Wenny asked, sounding almost embarrassed by the nature of her question. She seemed very reluctant to admit that she was, in fact, quite enjoying Gimli's story.

"Emelia isn't going anywhere." Gimli said, smiling despite himself at the bright smile that lit up the little elf's face. "Not just yet."


	3. Frinil and Fern

The monsters, which Emelia had tried her best to avoid making eye contact with, had kept her on lock and key for the greater part of the next three days. When she had woken up from passing out, she had hoped she had dreamed the entire ordeal. She had expected to be curled up in her bed, smothered by exorbitant layers of blankets, willing her mother to not come and wake her up for another family fishing trip. She had not expected to wake up covered in chains in a little hole in the ground, surrounded by smells that made her want to vomit.

In fact, despite not having eaten in a substantial amount of time, she did vomit down her front.

The feeling of waking up surrounded by decaying bones and grimy weapons made Emelia realize that she was not going to wake up and be back in her comfy bed. She wasn't going to magically appear back home, despite the fact that she had done so to get where she was.

She had not meant to vomit. Emelia was not proud of the fact that she couldn't even hold it in, allowing it to spill down her sore body without so much as a second thought.

The monsters had barely looked up from their spots across the space from her when they heard her retching.

At some point during the time that she had been sleeping, they had stripped her of all of her outer layer clothes, leaving her in nothing but her bra and underwear. She would have been embarrassed if she had been in any other situation. As it were, she just wanted to curl up and die.

It was obvious that the monsters didn't want her to get away, judging by the copious amount of chains and ties that were covering her body. They had tied her sock clad feet together by the ankles, as well as her wrists. They had chained her neck and waist to the wall of whatever space they inhabited for good measure, leaving her utterly and completely unable to move from her spot. When she had finally managed to calm herself down she had taken a good look around her.

She had been placed inside a cave, thrown haphazardly in a pile of something she would rather not think about once she had been chained to the cold stone of the wall. The monsters had left her alone once they were done stripping her of clothes. They had forced her to eat some concoction once during her time, but other than that, they had not even paid attention to her.

The entire situation baffled Emelia.

She didn't really understand what was happening to her. She didn't understand what those creatures were on the other side of the space. And she didn't really understand why she wasn't in Alaska anymore.

The monsters, which she had done her best to avoid entirely, had been sorting through her clothes when she had woken up. They had held up her pants, marveling at the small size of them, before throwing them into a pile of what appeared, at least from her position across the space, to be a pile of other people's clothes. They growled angrily when they discovered that she was in possession of nothing but the long forgotten outer layer of clothes and the much less substantial inner layer of clothes.

They had taken her shoes at some point, leaving her shivering as she struggled to keep herself warm and not in too much pain from her current position. She tried to ignore the fact that her own vomit was currently covering her chest and stomach.

"Why can' we just eat 'er?" One of the trolls asked suddenly, drawing Emelia's away from trying to make herself comfortable. "She squirms too much."

"Shut yer complainin'." The largest one snapped, delivering a loud smack to the back of the smallest one's head. He let out a startled yelp before falling silent.

"There was some farmer and his wife. We can cook 'em up tonight." The third one said. "Then we can cook 'er."

The largest one stood up from his spot. He lumbered across the cave, stepping and crunching on everything her passed before he stopped in front of her. She immediately scrambled backwards from him, hissing slightly as the chains cut into her skin, making the already raw spots bleed slightly. The chains were old and covered in rust which cut into her skin even more than the normal amount. She was amazed she could even move after being in the same position for so long.

"This little rabbit's wet herself." The monster said peering down at her. When he spoke he spit slightly, sending the spittle flying at her face. "Look at 'er."

Emelia felt her face heating up as the monster spoke about the hygiene situation that she currently found herself in. She had not showered in four days, not had she been able to move to go to the bathroom. The monsters had not even looked over at her when she had struggled not to wet herself like a baby. The fact that she hadn't been able to hold it in was more than a little embarrassing.

"She aren't so pretty now is she?" The smaller one said with a snorting laugh, following the larger one to come over to peer down at her.

He moved forward with his large hand outstretched, snickering the entire time, before he poked her stomach so painfully it caused her to cry out in surprise and hurt. She was quite positive that if the monster didn't eat her before it had a chance, her entire body would be black and blue with bruises. She was already covered in cuts and scrapes as well as marks from her little trip down the river, making her feel like her entire body was one giant injury.

"I wonder if that 'ill make 'er taste bette'?" The small one said moving closer to her, ignoring the fact that she was perpetually moving back from him.

He moved his hand forward and grasped her around her middle, pulling her with the chains still attached away from the wall. They strained against her body as he pulled her using his massive hand. He used his other hand to reach over to detach her from the wall, ignoring the squirming that she was doing in his hand. He gripped her middle, making her feel like every single rib she possessed was snapping under the unwanted pressure.

He pulled her up so that she was level with his face, sniffing her slightly causing her hair to puff out with gust of foul smelling air. She had been fortunate enough to avoid looking at them up close in the days that she had been with them.

They were repulsive up close. Their skin was covered in dirt, blood, and other unknown particulates that made her feel nauseous all over again. He smelled vile, and looked even worse.

"I bet she looked real nice…"

"Stop yer playin' around." The third monster said from the other side of the cave, drawing the attention of the other two over to him. "It's night now, and I aint sitting around here all night without some meat."

"So we ge' to eat 'er?" The youngest and smallest asked, squeezing Emelia even tighter in his hand.

"If we find another to go with 'er." He said, lumbering up to a standing position. "Now let's get a move on."

The youngest one lifted Emelia up even higher, pulling her close to his face for a moment before throwing her over his foul shoulder roughly. She slammed into the meaty surface, feeling her already blooming bruises worsening at the rough treatment. She felt her rib cage being compressed into the monsters shoulder as she was pushed down by its large, less than gentle hand. It kept patting her down, laughing loudly with the other two every time she let out another unintentional noise of discomfort and pain.

Her stomach, which had been rubbed raw by the extraneous chains, scrapped painfully against the creatures rough skin, making her feel like she was being hugged by sandpaper.

The three monsters lumbered out from their cave into the darkness of the night around them.

Emelia felt like she hadn't seen the night sky for a hundred years in all the time she had been kept in the grimy, noxious smelling cave. She had only been able to see the sunlight peeking in every once and while from her spot, making her feel like her days of captivity had run together in one giant blur.

The three creatures lumbered about for what felt like an eternity before they came to a small hill and paused. They peered out for a moment, still breathing in there wheezing fashion before the oldest one spoke.

"There's a farm house, look it." From her spot smushed into the shoulder of the youngest, Emelia could hear him lift up his massive paw of a hand and point, causing the thick rope he wore to make shuffling noises. "Let's get 'em."

They blundered down the hill, depositing her haphazardly onto the ground. They had kept her hands and legs bound making it impossible for her to run away if she was left alone for any substantial amount of time. She could hardly even feel her limbs, let alone use them to run away from the three substantially larger creatures that had made it their personal goal to make her life a living hell.

They had dropped her onto the mossy ground and thundered off, completely oblivious and unsympathetic to the fact that they had left her with her arms folded uncomfortably up against her dirty, sore chest. Her bra had started pressing into her skin from being worn for so long. Her underwear was sticking to her skin as well as her dismally filthy socks. All and all she had never felt of out of sorts and terrified in her life. She had never experienced those two emotions in concurrence with each other. It filled her stomach with hundreds of little knots, leaving her feeling like she was going to vomit all over again.

The monsters were going for what felt like hours before they came thundering back, laughing. In the time that they had been gone Emelia had heard the undeniable sounds of a struggle, consisting of the sound of rubble falling, people screaming, and wood breaking.

When they came back they weren't alone, however. Emelia could hear the sounds of people crying, causing her to look up from her face lying in the moist earth.

The people were a family. That much was obvious judging by the ages of the children that were struggling in the youngest monsters hands. They didn't look like they could be any older than ten and fifteen. The boy was punching the creature's hands with his own, shouting obscenities that would make even Emelia's father blush. The girl was bawling her large eyes out, crying out desperately for her mother and father. She was wearing a little white night dress, indicating that the family had been preparing themselves for bed.

The man who was obviously the father had been knocked out, or worse, leaving him limp in the arms of the largest monster. From her spot on the ground Emelia could see a very large gash on his head, causing a very substantial amount of blood to be seeping out of his head.

The woman was the most alarming to look at. She was obviously already dead. She wasn't moving and her body was twisted at such and odd angle it would have been almost impossible for her to still be living.

The sight of the woman and her screaming child made Emelia feel fresh waves of nausea wash over her.

The oldest troll, who wasn't carrying anyone, came bobbling over to her, scratching himself rather ungracefully as he went, before scooping her up and following after the other two creature's.

The children were still crying as they moved farther and farther away from their little house that was nestled alone the side of the cliffs. The mother was still not moving and the father was still being squeezed impossibly tight in the largest monsters hand.

They walked for less than five minutes before they three the children and Emelia onto the ground in a gangly heap.

Emelia let out a cry of pain when she felt one of the boney elbows of the children collide with her hip. She struggled to get into a sitting position, ignoring the tenderness of her joints and looked over at the two kids that were laying on the ground next to her.

The little girl, upon further inspection, was much smaller than Emelia would have thought. She still had all of her baby fat and toddler like youth. Her eyes, much to Emelia's displeasure were the exact same shade of green as her younger brothers. The sight of them made involuntary tears spring up in her eyes before she turned her attention over to the boy. Her brother was still gangly and awkward looking, indicating his prepubescent age and maturity.

They looked over at her with tear filled eyes, taking in her completely disheveled attire. The boy averted his eyes when he saw that she was only wearing her bra and underwear causing Emelia to let out an involuntary eye roll.

It hardly seemed like the time to have some morals.

"Who are you?" Emelia hissed over to the kids, using her voice for the first time in days. It came out hoarse and weak, adding to her overall meek appearance.

"I am Frinil, and this is my sister Fern." The boy said cautiously. "Who are you?"

"Emelia Montgomery." Emelia said, noting how they frowned when she said her last name.

"How long have you been with the trolls Lady Emelia?" Frinil asked, pulling his little sister into his chest, shushing her with a stroke of his hand over her messy brown hair.

Emelia narrowed her eyes in confusion at the way he addressed her. His odd accent had not escaped her notice when he had first spoken to her. It was rather alarming when combined with his formal way of speaking, making Emelia feel even tenser. Emelia shook her head, refocusing her eyes onto the two trembling children.

Something wasn't right, but she didn't exactly have the time to ponder it.

Apparently the things that she had been forced to share quarters with for the past couple of days were not monsters at all; they were trolls.

"Four days give or take." Emelia said.

"And they didn't eat you?" Fern asked suddenly a little louder than was probably wise. Frinil immediately shushed her with a hand over her mouth, shooting her a warning look.

Emelia opened her mouth to respond, only to be cut off by the undeniable sounds of screams coming from the other side of the camp. She chanced a glance over her shoulder, only to immediately regret it. If the father wasn't dead before, he certainly was now. She felt the nausea come flooding back at the sight in front of her. She immediately turned back to the other two, feeling her body sweating and convulsing in revulsion at what was happening next to the fire.

"Don't look." She said in a shaky, stuttery voice. She felt her body shaking for a moment before she got her wits about her.

"Can you two run?" She asked, alarming the boy for a moment.

"We wouldn't make it ten feet before they noticed." He said in a harsh hiss.

"They are," Emelia paused, willing herself not to look over her shoulder. "Busy."

"What about Mama?" Fern said in her high pitched voice. Frinil immediately looked over by the fire, the horror sliding onto his face with the sight across the camp.

"She'll follow you later, Fern." Emelia said before she had even realized the words were coming out of her mouth. She knew she was lying, but she couldn't exactly tell the miniscule girl that. Especially when Fern's life was on the line if she made a scene at the news that her mother would not, in fact, be following them at all.

"We can run. We are not bound like you are." Frinil said, eyeing the thick chains and ropes that covered her arms and legs. "You cannot escape like that."

Emelia looked down at her own pitiful state, letting his words sink in. She wouldn't be able to follow after them. She couldn't even stand up, let alone sprint to safety. She thought that she would be left to face the brunt of the trolls' anger made her panic slightly. She felt her breathing rate increase for a moment before she finally managed to get a hold of herself. Maybe if they killed her, she would end back up in Alaska. Maybe that was the key. She did not relish the idea of dying, in fact it scared her to the point of tears, but she was to the point that she was so desperate to get home she was thinking of all of the possibilities.

She had drowned to get to wherever the hell she was, maybe it worked going the opposite way.

"I'll be fine." She said to them both, ignoring the raised eyebrows of the boy.

Frinil looked torn for a moment. He glanced back at Fern before gazing back over at Emelia. She knew that look very well. It was the same look she had when she had seen Edward fall through the ice. It was a mix between horror, panic, and above all else, fear. She knew Frinil would leave her with the trolls if it meant Fern would be safe. She would have down the same thing for Eddy if he had been unfortunate enough to fall through the rabbit hole with her.

The boy looked confused for a moment before he slowly began to inch away from her, pulling his sister with him. "Be careful Lady Emelia."

With those final words he pulled Fern into the underbrush as quietly as possible leaving Emelia watching them as they disappeared without being noticed by the three trolls who were currently preoccupied.

As quickly as she had encountered the two siblings they had disappeared. She was quite certain she wouldn't see them again. The trolls hadn't even noticed their absence.

Emelia watched the direction they had gone for a moment before she allowed herself to slump back into the dirt.

Maybe if she was lucky, the trolls would be dumb enough to think that she had passed out from the pain on her body. Maybe they wouldn't be so mad if they didn't think she had been involved in them losing part of their meal.

She tried her best to tune out the noises coming from over by the fire. They made her feel sick, but she had long ago exhausted all of the contents of her stomach. She pushed herself into the ground, hearing the metal of the chains clinking against her skin and each other as she tired to become as close to the ground as possible.

All of her energy was slowly leaving her body. She had been awake for what felt like hours. She needed food, water and sleep. She knew none of that was possible at the moment, so she settled on being able to close her eyes for just a moment.

She completely forgot the ridiculousness of her situation for just that moment. The thought of how absurd the entire thing was slowly drifted away from her consciousness as she allowed herself to sink further and further into the ground.

Maybe the trolls would forget she existed entirely while she slept.

She felt like her eyes had just barely begun to close when she was being hoisted up into the air for what felt like the thousandth time in the past couple of days.

"Where did those little rabbits go?" The troll asked loudly, swinging her wildly by her legs. She did her best to ignore the red that was on its cracked lips and dirty cheeks. "Where they go?"

Emelia struggled to focus on the words that were being hurled at her. Her eyes blinked blearily, trying desperately to come up with a response that would make the trolls less likely to kill her violently.

"I…" She trailed off as the troll gave her a particularly thorough shake to get her to talk.

"Tie 'er up for the night." The oldest troll said, lumbering over to the pair. "Dawn is comin'."

"We aint leavin' 'er are we?"

"She aint going nowhere." The oldest said.

Emelia felt another shake before she was swung around towards the nearest tree in the small clearing. The troll pulled the excess rope from her hand sup to the one of the taller branches. He tied her up roughly, not bothering to avoid hitting her injuries. She didn't even touch the ground with her feet as she swung by her already throbbing arms and wrists. The troll looked over her for a moment before smirking at her.

"Maybe you'll taste bette' after a night of stretchin'." He moved his hand up to her face, poking it excruciatingly. She tried to move back for a moment, squirming at the contact to her face. He sniffed her once before reaching his finger to the top of her head and flicking her, sending her head and neck backwards so painfully stars shot across her vision.

"Be good, lil' rabbit."

With those words, the three trolls trudged off, leaving her hanging in the tree.


	4. The Man-Child and His Friends

Emelia had seen enough movies to know that hanging by her arms for such a long time would not end well when she was finally let down from her spot on the tree. She couldn't feel her shoulders and wrists by the time the sun had completely risen above her.

She had been with the trolls long enough to pick up on the pattern of their lifestyle. They never ventured out of their little cave during the day time, opting instead to keep themselves holed up so far into the dwelling that Emelia often lost sight of them when she wasn't paying attention. She could always hear them, however, which made the whole situation feel that much more tense and terrifying. However, given her current situation hanging from the tree, she would have almost preferred to be stuck back in the troll hole.

The time she spent up in the tree had run together in a blur of painful sunlight and breezes that cut across her skin like razors.

At first she had thought she quite enjoyed the fresh air, relatively speaking. She didn't have to look at the trolls and she wasn't laying in a pile of gnawed upon bones. She had quickly regretted that line of thinking when she lost all feeling in her arms and began to slowly burn from the steady stream of sunlight.

Her lips split and bled every time she attempted to move them from the sun and lack of moisture. She had tried wetting them with her tongue, but quickly realized she just made them crack and smart even more every time she did.

Perhaps the most painful part of the whole ordeal was the way the wind made her body pull against the ropes that were wrapped around her wrists.

Just as she expected, time passed dismally slow once she realized she was going to be stuck there for the entirety of the daylight.

It was excruciating to know that she was just waiting for night time to fall for her captures to come back to visit and, more than likely, eat her.

The three trolls had left behind their cooking pots, various mugs, and some of their knives used for cooking. It seemed to Emelia, that the bigger the size, the less you had to worry about looters. They had left her out in the open, not even bothering to cover her up, indicating that they were either very unintelligent or very confident in their status when compared to the rest of the inhabitants of whatever place Emelia found herself in that wasn't Alaska.

Emelia was partial to believe it was both.

She had slipped in and out of consciousness for the better part of the day, lulling her head forward and backwards with every time she slipped out of focus.

She would have been the first one to admit, she wished she would have just been able to stay unconscious. Every single time she shocked herself back into awareness the pain in her body was worse than the last time. By the third time she woke up, she felt the moisture slipping down her body from sweating. She lived in a cold climate. Normally she loved it, but considering the fact that her entire body was covered in salty sweat, she hated it more than anything.

By the time it was dark enough for the trolls to return to their little 'kitchen' in the woods, Emelia had passed out completely and thoroughly. The addition of the heat and increase in perspiration had sped up the rate of dehydration. All of the sweat that had been sticking to her body had dried up, leaving her feeling like she was literally skin and bones with no real substance to her.

Emelia knew she had been having a fever dream when she was roughly shaken back into reality by the largest troll. She had been imagining herself holding her brother in the snow, laughing out loud.

"Does she look smalle' to you?" He asked over his shoulder to the other two trolls.

"She still looks jus' as maggoty and midgetey as before." The youngest said, flopping down lazily onto one of the stumps in the clearing. He pulled out a dismally disgusting cloth before blowing his nose into it loudly, causing Emelia to cringe at the revolting noise. "She still won't make any of us less hungry."

The troll in front of her leaned forward towards her, making her constant, never ending panic increase tenfold. He reached out his large hand, wrapping it around her middle, before pulling her up until the rope still attached to the tree was completely rigid, making her cry out in pain. He pulled her so close to his face, Emelia could smell the noxious fumes coming from his gaping mouth. She felt the bile turning in her stomach and mouth as he leaned close to her. He would just have to open his mouth a little more and she would be nothing more than a little snack.

Emelia didn't even bother to fight the tears from spilling down her face when the troll pulled her to his mouth and nose, inhaling deeply.

"I bet she tastes just as lovely as she looks." The troll said, sending involuntary shivers down her spine.

"Leave 'er be, William." The oldest one snapped from his spot hunched over the now bubbling pot of soup. It appeared, much to Emelia's surprise, that the trolls had names. It seemed so cultured and civilized for such barbaric people. "And come help with the suppe'."

The troll, who was apparently called William, immediately stepped back from her, releasing her roughly. Her body swung down painfully, making her cry out despite herself. Her shoulders cracked painfully, her left one in particular, sending fresh waves of pain everywhere she still had feeling remaining. She had dislocated her left shoulder in the fourth grade, leaving her prone to repeating the injury. She tried to hide her whimpers as she swung back and forth.

The trolls were quite firm in ignoring her when they weren't leering at her or fighting the urge to eat her whole. They didn't even look over at her as she cried from the unbearable pain in her shoulder. They were laughing loudly as they slapped and guffawed their way through cooking their meal. Emelia was surprised they had anything to laugh about, considering their dismal intelligence, but somehow they managed to keep themselves entertained for the majority of the evening.

The three trolls were debating over the meal when William held up his large hand to silence the youngest troll. William delivered a resounding crack to his head when he still laughed, earning a yelp of pain.

"Did you hea' that?" William said, standing up from his knocked over tree stump.

"Hear wha'?" The youngest one asked, rubbing the back of his head.

"Hooves. Over there." William gestured with his large arm over to the side of the clearing.

He didn't bother to elaborate further, opting instead to lumber off in the direction he had indicated. Emelia could hear him, despite the constant ringing in her ears from exhaustion, for what felt like forever, before she finally lost track of his loud footsteps. The two reaming trolls were watching the way he went, making snide remarks about his stupidity. Emelia would have laughed at the irony if she hadn't been swinging from a tree waiting for them to cut her down and eat her.

The other two had long given up that their companion was going to come back with anything valuable and had since returned to their seats by the fire when William came trudging back towards them holding two large masses that were obviously not human.

Emelia didn't know the trolls were capable of smiles, but she had been proven wrong multiple times since she had been unfortunate enough to fall through the ice. The other two immediately smiled at the sight of the struggling animals in William's arms. They were squirming and whining as they attempted to get out of the giant troll's arms. William squeezed them tighter, causing them to let out loud noises of protest before he dropped them rather ungracefully and uncaringly into a pin at the edge of the small clearing. The second they whinnied, Emelia knew that they were horses. The thought made her feel nauseous. She had to remind herself that horses being eaten were better than the alternative, considering the bloodshed she had witnessed the night before.

William wasted no time in returning back to the forest, making the trees shudder around his large form.

Emelia was rather proud of herself for staying conscious for as long as she had once the trolls returned. She did not fall into unconsciousness as much as she would have liked to.

She was awake to see William return with two more horses. Perhaps she had lucked out, as gruesome as it was to think about. They would surely eat four horses before they decided to eat her. She, while not abysmally small by societies standards, was considered below average height. She when compared to the four horses, would barely offer anything of substance for the large trolls.

"I don't want mutton again." The youngest troll said loudly. "We had mutton yesterday, mutton today, and blimey if it don't look like mutton tomorrow." He paused, glancing back over at Emelia. "Why can't I just eat 'er instead?"

"Shut yer complanin' Tom." The oldest one snapped. "You sound like a youngin'. We'll eat 'er when the time is right."

"Besides," William said, dropping himself down onto his seat. "These ain't sheep. These is Westnads."

Emelia appreciated William, ever so briefly, for distracting the youngest troll from her. She wasn't particularly fond of the hungry, leering look that Tom had been sporting as he looked over at her.

"I don't want to eat horse." Tom said, looking at the oldest troll, seemingly trying to appeal to him to fix something else. Probably Emelia. "They don't have enough meat and fat on them. All bones and nasty bits."

"It is better than that leathery old farmer from last night." The oldest one said, stirring the contents in the pot roughly. "All skinny and what not. His wife wasn't much better."

"She was fun before she died." Tom said, making Emelia cringe at the implication.

"You enjoy playing with your food too much for yer own good." William said with a loud hoot of laughter.

The three trolls chuckled darkly with each other for a moment, slapping each other on their meaty backs. It seemed so primal and juvenile to Emelia. Of course, everything that the trolls had done over the past couple of days had seemed primal to her. The way they treated each other was so gruesome and cruel. She had assumed they were brothers, but the way they treated each other was not the way Emelia would ever imagine treating her own little brother in any way, shape, or form.

"Just make sure you get rid of them nasty bits." Tom said, sitting back down onto his stump. "I'm sick of eatin' them nasty bits all the time."

Emelia watched them with ill-disguised disgust as she swung back and forth in the breeze of the night. Her shoulder screamed out in pain every time. She attributed her continued consciousness to pure adrenaline, rather than fortitude. She felt as if all of her actual energy had been completely drained from her body, leaving her with nothing left but the energy that came from being terrified out of her mind. She had toyed around with the thought that they weren't planning on eating her at all, and were in fact, planning on leaving her up in the tree until she completely starved to death.

"Get them 'nads to shut it." William snapped in a deep growl.

Tom leaned over to the horses, gesturing one of the cooking implements at them as a pseudo weapon. The horses bucked back at the sight of the large troll bearing down on them, making loud noises as they stamped their hooved feet. Tom slapped the pen once more before lumbering back to his seat, slumping down in it hard enough to cause the tree Emelia was hanging from to shake and send her pivoting back and forth.

In the time that Emelia had been with the trolls she had noticed, unfortunately, how often Tom blew his nose. She had not however, seen him ever produce anything like what came flying out of his nose. It was small, childlike almost, and squirming to get out of the trolls squeezing grasp.

"What've I just snooted up?" Tom asked, looking back and forth between the squirming child in his hands and the two other trolls. "Look what's come out of me 'ooter."

"What is it?" William asked, leaning over to look at what was squirming in his hands.

"I dunno." Tom sounded more panicked than normal. "But it moves around too much for my likin', Bert."

"What are you then?" William asked poking the little thing in Tom's hand. "An over sized squirrel? A nasty bogie?"

"I'm a bug-" The child stopped for a moment. "A hobbit."

"A bugglahobbit?" Bert said gruffly, eyeing the little thing. "I never heard of one of them before."

"He looks tasty." Tom said. "We could cook 'im with 'er."

"They won't make more than a mouthful." Bert said. "Even if they were cooked togethe'."

"Are there more of you around here?" William asked.

Emelia immediately froze as the three trolls looked over at her. The thing in Tom's hand followed their gaze, peering up as best he could before she saw his eyes go wide as he took in her current state of being. He squirmed a little bit ore before Tom finally dropped him to the ground. The little child, who looked curiously like a man, immediately scrambled away from the three trolls.

"Come back 'ere." William yelled, advancing for the little man-child.

The little man, or child, scrambled about underneath their legs, causing the trolls to struggle to keep with him and his quick movements. From her spot hanging from the tree Emelia could see the small person panicking as the three monsters bore down on him. She didn't really blame him. She had been panicking for the past four days solid. She would have burst into tears all over again if she had been on the ground in his position, scurrying around to avoid being grabbed up and eaten.

"He's too quick, the little buggar is." One of the trolls complained loudly. Emelia struggled to keep the little man in her sights as she swung around lackadaisically from the vibrations of the troll's large feet on the ground. After what seemed like an eternity of the little man moving about under the three troll's legs, William scooped him up, hanging him upside down, causing him to swing about.

"Are there more of you mucking about?"

The little man glanced over at Emelia for a moment before answering in a shaky voice. "No."

"He is lying he is." Tom said, poking the little man roughly in the stomach. "Hold him over the fire. Make him squeal. Then he'll tell us."

William moved towards the fire briefly before he let out an almighty squeal of pain, sending the hobbit flying about in the air like a rag doll. William kept his grip, if anything tightening it, before he righted himself, glaring around the camp for the source of his pain. Emelia followed his searching gaze, sincerely hoping it was some form of military or coastguard here to kill the trolls, but she found herself quickly becoming disappointed at the sight in front of her.

It was a man, a single man, standing at the edge of the clearing brandishing a large sword up at the three trolls. "Drop him." He looked as if he was certain of himself when compared to the three massive creatures, which Emelia couldn't help but find to be so tragically comical, she couldn't help but snort form her spot.

If this was some sort of rescue it was in the poorest and most pathetic taste and fashion possible.

"You what?" William asked, squeezing the little man tighter in his massive hand, causing him to cry out in pain.

"Clearly you're as stupid as you look." Emelia couldn't help but roll her eyes at the snarky remark coming from the unknown man. It didn't exactly seem like the time for sarcasm. "I said, drop him." He enunciated every possible syllable, doing his best, from what she could hear, to sound intimidating.

The troll, for some unknown reason, threw the little man at the other less than intimidating man, sending them both crashing to the forest floor in a heap.

What happened next Emelia was quite sure she was hallucinating. It was highly likely, considering how little nutrients she had been given. As soon as the two men fell to the ground, a pack of about ten other men, all of a questionable height and weight ratio, came hurtling out, brandishing varying types of edged weapons and tools. She counted at least six axes, which was odd, considering it was the 21st century. The thought occurred to her, as she watched them slicing at the trolls, that she might have just been a victim in a rather cruel and though out nerd fest.

She hadn't realized her mouth had fallen open until she felt what little saliva she had left drying up rapidly.

The men looked far too old to be playing such a silly game, leaving her with the only option that was plausible. She had been able to delude herself into thinking that she was part of a very vivid hallucination off and on. Sometimes it was easier to convince herself than others, but for the most part she had been just delusional enough from hunger and exhaustion to imagine that everything was some cruel trick of the mind.

The whole mess was real, and she was certainly stuck at the worst end of it.

"Psst, My Lady." Emelia immediately jumped from the sudden voice below her. "Down here."

Emelia wasn't sure she could trust someone who looked so tiny yet bore the face of a full grown man. In fact, she wasn't really sure she could trust anybody in the godforsaken place she had found herself in, considering what had happened thus far with the trolls.

She could still hear the sounds of a battle happening behind her, causing her mind to go slightly fuzzy with the confusion of being addressed politely for the first time in what felt like ages and the sounds of screams filling the night air.

"Are you hurt?"

"Erm," She paused, realizing that she wasn't exactly speaking intelligible words from pure exhaustion. "It's no sho…."

"I'm sorry, but that wasn't…" the little man suddenly stopped, letting out a loud breath of surprise. It seemed the trolls had noticed the his absence.

William lifted the little man up, squeezing him much harder than was necessary, before moving over for Bert to grab a hold of the poor man's other half. Bert squeezed the little hobbits arms so tightly, Emelia could see him cringing visibly at the pain.

"Oi, lay down your arms, or we'll rip this little rabbit's off." William snarled down at the group of men, indicating their swords and axes with a little flick of his head.

She struggled against the ropes on her wrists, trying to see what the group of men's reaction would be. She tried to do her best to avoid drawing attention over to her, keeping the noise coming from the ropes and the creaking of the tree down to the least possible. She had had enough of the troll's attention on her for the past four days. She felt slightly sick for thinking that way, but her survival instincts kicked in. The men were looking back and forth between each other as Emelia watched them from her spot across the camp from them. It helped her line of thinking to not know any of their names. It helped her to not think about them in such personal terms. They, as well as her, were probably about to be eaten anyway, regardless of whether she knew their names or not.

The men looked back and forth until the one who appeared to be in charge threw down his sword, indicating that all of the others should do the same.

It didn't take long for the trolls to move towards the company of men, grabbing them roughly by their stomachs and clothes, before shoving them into bags that they pulled from some part of the camp. As much as Emelia hated being kept hanging from a tree, she did not envy them being shoved into bags that the trolls kept who knows what in.

They kept out half of them, tying them quickly to the spigot. They had stripped them of their outer clothes, much like they had done with Emelia. They kept their long underwear on, as well as their boots, but other than that, they were wearing nothing.

"Why can't we just eat them as jelly?" Tom asked loudly, causing the men to immediately panic. "That's my favorite."

"I want 'em cooked." William said, pushing the smallest troll slightly. "Not squished."

"We will add some sage." Bert said, as if it ended the conversation.

"That does sound nice I guess." Tom said, smirking slightly through his disgusting teeth. "Better than that manky woman and farmer."

"Either way, you better ge' a move on." William said, turning the spigot with his hand. "Dawn isn't too far off, and I don't fancy being turned into stone."

Emelia had heard more preposterous things in her life, but for some reason the thought of sunlight turning something into to stone was so laughable it was just ridiculous.

"Wait, you're making a horrible, terrible mistake." The little man, the hobbit, jumped up from his spot. He hopped in spot for a moment before stopping a little in front of the trolls.

Emelia couldn't hear what the rest of his group was saying from her spot. She had already been straining to hear with her arms pushed up against her ears. She got patchy pieces of information, making for an overall sense of confusion about what was happening.

"What about the seasoning?" Bert asked, bending over to look at the hobbit.

There was more talking from the group of men before Bert held up his large hand angrily.

"What do you know about cooking up a plate of dwarves?" William snapped angrily.

Emelia had thought the bit about turning to stone was just stupid until she heard William talking about dwarves.

"Shut it." Bert snapped. "Let the fluggarbluggerhobbit talk." Bert bent down even lower to address the hobbit.

The hobbit mumbled something else.

"Come it. Tell me what the secret is first."

The hobbit mumbled something else before shouting. "You have to skin them first!"

Emelia didn't know what a hobbit was, but she wasn't sure she imagined them to be so brutal. The men, or 'dwarves', around him erupted into an uproar.

"Get me filleting knife." Bert said, gesturing behind him.

"What a load of rubbish." William snapped. "I like 'em more with the skin and boots."

"Yea, nothing wrong with a little raw dwarf." Tom said, moving over to the pile and picking up one of the sacks. He hung it over his mouth, sticking out his long, misshapen tongue.

"Wait! He's infected." The little hobbit shouted. "They're all infected."

Tom dropped the dwarf almost instantly. He whipped off his hand on his skin, let his face fall into a grimace. It was kind of odd, considering how dirty he was, for him to be cringing at something so small. She let out a small laugh at the sight, feeling her stomach work painfully as she used those muscles for the first time. She hadn't realized how loud she had laughed until Tom looked over at her, eyes lighting up as he remembered her handing from the tree.

"She ain't infected." He pointed to her with his large finger. "I've been waiting for her for days."

He immediately moved towards her, extending his hands. She began squirming, struggling to get the ropes off her wrists. She didn't like the hungry look in its eyes as he moved towards her, extending its huge hand out. She let out a cry of surprise as it grabbed her roughly around the middle, snapping the ropes painfully.

"The foolish little bitch thought we wouldn't eat her." Tom let out a loud little giggle, squeezing her so tightly she heard cracks. He lifted her up closer to his mouth, licking his lips in anticipation.

"The dawn will take you all for fools."

Tom looked around, immediately dropping Emelia to the ground in a painful heap. She looked up from her spot, ignoring the pain in her body, feeling tears springing up in her eyes.

She felt her mouth drop open at the sight in front of her. It seemed that not all things were ridiculous as she thought. The trolls, despite what all rationale would predict, were slowly but surely turning into stone. As ludicrous as it was, Emelia wasn't going to complain. They were shouting and screaming in pain as their bodies hardened, leaving them into the positions they were last in.

It seemed that some things were not as ridiculous as she thought.


	5. The Wonders of Facial Hair

Emelia had stayed on the ground as long as possible, staring up at the trolls, until she was finally brought out of her reverie by a very loud voice a couple of yards away from her. She tore her gaze away from Tom, or what used to be Tom, and looked over to where the group of men was still standing. There were, upon further inspection, 13 men, the little man-child, and a man that Emelia would have assumed was a giant. He was standing out with his unnatural height from the rest of the group, making her fear him more than the rest. He was very intimidating, for some reason, as were the rest of the men. And they were all looking over at her.

She felt her eyes go wide as the men looked over at her. She tried to push her body further down into the dirt in a desperate attempt to get the large group to stop staring at her.

They looked at her for what felt like an eternity before someone addressed her with a soft voice.

"Why don't you come out of the bushes, Lass?" Emelia shrank back even further at the sound of the obviously Scottish accent floating over at her. She felt her tired and impossibly hurt body tensing up even further as she peered out over between the branches of the bush she had been dropped behind.

All of the men were holding their weapons, flipping them over in their hands.

"Put your weapons down." Emelia said shakily, doing her best to sound intimidating. "Please."

To Emelia's utter horror the group of men let out loud booming laughs that sent shivers down her spine. "We aren't going to hurt you lassie."

The voice sounded genial and warm. It almost comforted her until she remembered that the owner of said voice was currently holding an axe that was probably bigger than she was. She could hear the group muttering to each other in some language that sounded like German and Russian combined into some ghastly, unappealing language child. She strained to see if she could understand any of what they were saying, only to come up horribly disappointed when she found that she couldn't.

"My Lady, I can personally guarantee that none in this company will lay a hand on you." A higher pitched voice said. She vaguely recognized that voice.

"Is that the man-child talking?" Emelia asked, hearing the nervousness in own voice.

There was even more laughter, causing Emelia to sink back behind the bushes almost instantly.

"What did she just call me?" The voice spluttered, sounding embarrassed and flustered.

"She pegged you right I would say Mister Baggins." A loud gruff voice said, struggling to keep their voice even from chuckling. "She sounds cheeky. I like her already."

"If it would make you more inclined to come out of the bushes, we will gladly lay down the more intimidating of our weapons." Another voice said. Emelia peeked out of the bushes, looking for the most likely source of the voice.

"All weapons are intimidating if they can stab me." Emelia squeaked out.

"My Lady, when I looked at you hanging in the tree, you appeared to be severely hurt." The higher pitched voiced called out. "You require attention."

"Umm," Emelia paused, feeling the nausea and exhaustion that she had been feeling come washing back over her for a brief moment. "Maybe you could just…"

"My Lady, if you could just come out of the bush." The voice that spoke that time sounded much more irritated than the others. "We will not harm you."

Emelia weighed her options with a blurry mind. On the one hand she was completely and utterly hesitant to trust people holding medieval weapons as if they were their most prized possession. Of course, she was quickly losing what energy she had left crouching in the manky bush. She wanted to stand up for the first time in days very much. It was a desire that almost rivaled the one of wanting to take a shower. She could feel the filth from the past four days coating her body, making her skin feel tight and sticky.

"You could be a traveling band of homicidal maniacs for all I know." Emelia said, shifting slightly in her spot.

"I assure you my dear, we are not." She liked the comfort in that voice. It sounded so soothing; she almost stood up from the spot she found herself in.

"Enough of this." The irritated voice said gruffly. "Just come out of the bushes."

"I think I'll just stay here, thanks."

"We will come to you then."

Emelia stood up so quickly, she felt every joint in her body crack painfully. Her legs cried out in sheer shock at being used properly for the first time in days. Her left arm still hung limply at her side from the dislocation she was sure she had suffered. She felt the bruises on her stomach and chest stretching out as her skin was pulled out as she stood up to her full height. The men were all looking at her with alarm, as she twisted her body in an attempt to return feeling to all of her outer limbs.

"Oh Lassie," One of the older looking men took a step towards her.

"Stay where you are." She snapped in an embarrassingly shaky voice. "I'm war… I'm warning you."

"You aren't really in a position to be making threats little lass." She looked over at the owner of the voice and felt all the blood drain from her face. The man that was addressing her was one of the most intimidating she had ever seen in her entire life. He was covered in muscles and tattoos, reminding Emelia vividly of the men her mother had always told her to avoid at all costs. Seeing the man looking at her like she was slightly insane made her take a tentative step backwards.

"I think you had better just stay where you are."

One of the other men leaned over to his companions, saying something that caused the other two to smirk. Emelia narrowed her eyes in their direction, shooting them a very scathing look. It hardly seemed like the time to be cracking jokes.

"You are so firm in your statements, considering you are huddled in the bushes wearing nothing but your undergarments."

"Fili!" One of the older men snapped, shooting a dark look at the blonde headed man who had made the quip.

Emelia looked down at herself, feeling her face flush as she realized she was, in fact, in nothing but her underwear and socks. She lifted up the arm she could move to cover her chest, dropping down to the forest floor so quickly her joints snapped all over again.

"Will you run if I come near you to give you something to cover yourself?" The oldest man asked. Emelia peered out from behind the bush, keeping her arm over her sore chest.

"It is a distinct possibility."

"Try and fight the urge then." She heard footsteps coming closer to her before she saw a pair of feet directly in front of her on the opposite side of the bush. "Lassie?"

She reached out a cautious arm, trying to turn so that the man wouldn't see her chest, before snatching the article of clothing out of the air. Her feelings of discomfort at being almost completely naked outweighed her feelings of distrust of the group of men for the moment. "Me taking this doesn't indicate my wiliness to come out of the bushes." Emelia snapped. "I am still afraid you're going to murder me as soon as I step out."

"I assumed as much, Lass."

"Stop calling me that." Emelia said, hearing even more chuckles coming from across the clearing. "Sir." She added as an afterthought.

"Balin is fine."

Emelia paused in her actions of pulling on the old man's large cloak. It was almost too small for her in the sleeves area, while completely swallowing her in the shoulder department. "What?"

"My name. You may just call me Balin, Miss…" He paused, trailing off in indication that she should tell him her name.

"Montgomery." Emelia said quickly, almost instantly regretting it.

"That's odd sounding." One of the other men said loudly. Emelia had to fight the urge to say something nasty. She glanced behind her, weighing her options of just running away from the men altogether. She could see a clear path, relatively speaking, that she could run down with very minimal impact to her body from rocks and trees. She might even be able to get away fast enough for her to outrun the men.

"Kili, quiet." One of the voices hissed sharply.

"We are on a strict schedule Lady Montgomery." The irritated voice said again. "So if you could come out of the bushes once and for all."

Emelia stood up, weighing her options. The men, in general, smiled at her as they thought she was planning on finally listening to their words. She wasn't planning on it, despite the kindness of the older man. In fact, she was planning on just the opposite. She took a tentative step back from them, gauging whether or not they noticed. She felt her socks fraying and catching on the rocks and grass underneath her feet, but paid no mind to it. She was quite sure running away would be one of the most excruciating things she had ever done, but she wasn't about to stick around and get murdered by the odd men. She had somehow avoided that scenario with the trolls and she wasn't about to repeat the experience.

She had been able to rationalize everything that had happened to her, but she was beginning to come to terms with the fact that she had somehow been pulled out of Alaska, and plopped down in the middle of nowhere.

Perhaps she was being punished. Perhaps it was a kidnapping. Perhaps it was something she hadn't thought of yet. Whatever the reason, she wasn't going to stick around and find out whatever the man child and his little band of merry man had planned for her.

So she did the only thing she could think of.

She ran.

She dashed off into the woods, ignoring the shooting pain in her limbs, pushing the things that slowed her down out of her way. She could hear shouts from behind her, spurring her to move forward. The adrenaline that she had attributed to keeping her alive allowed her to move faster than she normally would have thought possible. The cloak that she had been given swallowed her completely, catching on branches as she struggled to make her way as far from the men as possible.

After getting caught twice, she finally shrugged it off, only pausing slightly, before pushing herself to keep moving. She was aware of a pair of feet following after her, spurring her to move faster. The chafing between her thighs burned her as she moved, making it almost impossible to ignore the fact she had been wetting herself and sweating all over herself for the past couple of days. The footsteps weren't far behind her. In fact, when she checked over her shoulder, the person was only about ten or so yards away from her.

She spurred her legs to move faster, hoping desperately that the person behind her was particularly out of shape and wouldn't be able to keep up with her for long.

She had barely moved ten feet after noticing the person following her when she was roughly grabbed around the middle.

Her feet flailed about in the air as the person attempted to calm her down. She felt the hands digging into her hips, making her insides squirm uncomfortably. She cried out, flinging her arms around, trying to come in contact with anything she could to get the person to let her go. While the trolls had always been rough with her, this terrified her a little more. This was a person treating her like this.

"Stop flailing about like a baby bird trying to fly." The voice said, struggling to keep her still.

"Let me go." Emelia said, using her good arm to try and pry herself from his grip. The tight hold on her body was making her dislocated shoulder hurt almost to the point that she was crying involuntarily.

"You'll just run away again." The voice said, finally succeeding in getting her to stop flailing.

"I won't." Emelia found herself saying before she realized it. "You're hurting me."

The person immediately dropped her, freeing up her right arm completely. She, surprising even herself, brought her elbow back towards his face, catching his nose with a loud crunch.

"Did you just…" The voice trailed off thickly.

Emelia should have just run. She should have, but hearing the pain in the voice, she couldn't help but turn around. She had never elbowed someone before, so the whole thing alarmed her. She had never felt that sort of thing before.

"You wouldn't let go." She said, facing the person for the first time. It was the dark haired one who had made fun of her name. She felt her eyes narrow at him as she saw him holding his nose to stop the bleeding. "I thought you were going to kill me."

"I still might." The person said, noticing the look on her face when he said that. "I'm only joking."

She opened her mouth to respond, only to be cut off by the sound of his companion's feet. "Did you find her Kil…"

"What did you do to his face?" One of the shorter men asked.

Now that Emelia was looking at them, they were all fairly short with the exception of a select few, one of which was currently bleeding from the nose. She was taller than a good portion of them, with only a few of them reaching above her head by a couple of inches. They all had beards of varying length and majesty, making Emelia turn her head slightly in confusion.

"I thought he was going to kill me." Emelia said, addressing the only person whom she knew the name of. Balin let out a small sigh. "In fact, I thought you all were going to kill me. I mean, aren't you?"

"Why would we, lassie?" Balin asked, moving forward with his recovered cloak.

Emelia looked around at all of them, weighing her options. Balin, for his part, seemed nice enough. She wanted to trust him, but she was very hesitant to. The others were eyeing her, taking in her now positively crazy look.

"I'm…" She trailed off, losing focus on what it was that she really wanted to say. "You promise youre not lying to me?" She asked quietly, making eye contact with Balin.

"We wouldn't dream of it."

"Yes, we wouldn't dream of it." The man with the broken nose said thickly. She could hear the sarcasm dripping from every word.

"Sorry about your nose, princess." She snapped over at him. "Maybe next time you shouldn't tackle me to get me to stop running."

"Maybe next time you shouldn't run." He spat back, shooting her a glare from behind his hand.

Balin lifted the cloak onto her shoulders, making her flinch as he touched her dislocated shoulder. All of the men twitched as she cried out in pain, lifting their weapons up out of a reflex. Her eyes went wide as she saw them, making her step back from Balin, taking his cloak with her. She raised her good hand up in a defensive position, ignoring the way it shook. Balin immediately let out a heavy sigh, moving in front of her and grabbing her hand. He handed her the cloak, helping her put it on gingerly.

"Stop scaring her." He said to the rest of them. "For goodness sake."

"What is wrong with your shoulder?" One of the older men asked.

"The trolls dislocated it." She said, keeping the story simple. "It's been like this for a while."

"We can fix it for you."

While she still wasn't entirely sure what their intentions were, she was quite tired of her arm feeling like it was going to fall out of its socket. She nodded her head blearily, indicating that she would allow the old man to fix her shoulder.

"Kili, grab her so she won't flinch when I pop it back in." The man said, handing his axe off to one of his companions. "This will only hurt for a little bit, lassie."

The bleeding man moved towards her, shooting her a wary look before attempting to grab a hold of her to keep her from moving too much. She immediately threw up her good hand, stopping him where he was. "I would rather the man who looks like he just discovered the wonders of facial hair not be the one to steady me, if you don't mind."

"She's got spunk." One of the others said with a slight chortle.

"Indeed. Oin, make this quick. We cannot linger here for long." The speaker was by far the most intimidating of them all. She had thought the large muscley one was the worst, but this man knocked him out of the park. He was regarding her as if she was something he would very much like to leave where they found her. He was taller than her, although not by much, and dwarfed her in size of muscle and intimidation factor.

"Lassie, just grab a hold of Fili."

The blonde one came sauntering over to her, sending her what she assumed was supposed to be a charming smirk. "Pleasure to meet you, My Lady." He said, grabbing her hand and squeezing it tightly. "Although, I would have much preferred to meet you on another occasion and in different circumstances."

"You seem nicer than dark and brooding over there." Emelia said, shooting the man who had grabbed her a dark look. "My name is Emelia."

"I thought you said you name was Montgomery." The blonde, Fili she asssumed, asked, looking over her shoulder for a moment before meeting her gaze.

"That is my las…" She suddenly felt her left arm being wrenched so roughly, she felt tears spring into her eyes. She heard and audible crack as Oin popped it back into place. "Son of a bitch!"

"Most interesting indeed." Balin said with a laugh. She was rather thankful that the kind man didn't think her expletive was meant for him. "Are you alright lass?"

Emelia was biting her tongue so hard, she could feel blood in her mouth. She felt like her arm was being broken repeatedly. The man, Oin, gave her a reassuring pat on the back before moving to stand next to the others. Tears were spilling down from her eyes as she pulled her hand out of the Fili's, bringing it up to her shoulder to rub the pain away. The men watched her for a moment before Balin finally spoke up, pulling Emelia out of her pain reverie.

"Now how about we find you some clothes?" Balin said, with a twinkling smile.

Emelia instantly felt bad for thinking he was a murderer.

"I would very much like some food and water," She paused, looking underneath the cloak on her body for a moment. "And a bath."

The men shot her sympathetic looks for a moment. She could see them eyeing the way she looked, putting the pieces together of what had happened without her need to go into too much vivid detail.

"I think that is something that would be a priority." The dark haired one, Kili, said. "You smell terrible."

"Kili!" All of the men shot him disapproving looks at his lack of tact.

"What?" Kili asked, sounding indignant. "She broke my bloody nose!"

"And I would do it again." Emelia muttered, instantly feeling like she was five years old again. Kili shot her a scowl from his spot next to the blonde haired one. He had stopped bleeding, now only sporting a red stain down his front that disappeared into his stubble. Stubble that she noticed he was the only one sporting. Everyone else had full beards except him.

"Interesting is an understatement I think, Master Balin." One of the men shouted, earning even more chuckles.

"Now lassie, about that bath…"


	6. The Relative Realness of Dwarves

Gandalf the Grey had always been known for his keen observation skills. It was rare for him to not notice something, and even rarer for him to not understand something. That being said, it was fairly safe to assume that Gandalf the Grey did not understand Miss Emelia Montgomery. From the moment he first observed her being held in the trolls hand, she had confused him. She was odd, and uncouth, and by all definitions he could think of, completely displaced.

She was small, but not appallingly so. She was too skinny and slight to be a dwarf, yet not tall enough to be considered a full sized human woman. He had kept his distance from her when she had gone sprinting off into the trees on the opposite side of the camp from where he had positioned himself. He knew she would be back. She was in possession of nothing to keep herself safe and alive, in addition to the fact that she was so visibly hurt, he was surprised she had enough energy to stand, let alone run away like she had.

He had watched her, not even bothering to be discrete, as Balin led her gingerly back into the clearing that the trolls had occupied. She was pale, despite her vivid sunburn, and looked as if she hadn't eaten for days. Her face was very gaunt looking, and her lips were so horribly chapped they were bleeding. Her little stocking clad feet were covered in stains and blood from sources that were fairly obvious to the old wizard. She was clutching at Balin's cloak like it was the only thing that was really keeping her from collapsing to the ground in a heap.

Gandalf would be the first one to admit that some things, much less than most would think, stumped him. Emelia Montgomery was not like any person he had ever encountered. When he had first glanced at her, he had assumed she was a wayward hobbit woman who had stumbled at bit too far away from home.

Upon further inspection, he found that his first assumption was entirely wrong. Her feet were far too small to be that of a hobbit. Her hair was not nearly curly enough, and her height was not indicative of the Halfling race. She looked more like a dwarf, which was entirely preposterous considering she had no hair on her chin or exorbitant muscles on her arm. He was left with the only conclusion that she was, despite what he would normally guess, a human.

She was taller than Balin, as well as most of the others, but she still had to tip her head up ever so slightly to look at the taller of the dwarves. He noticed that she never made eye contact with any of the dwarves except Balin.

Gandalf had done his best to keep his distance from her as the rest of the dwarves did their best to make her feel less like she had been held captive.

Ori had produced an extra pair of pants and shirt so quickly Gandalf had to fight his chuckle.

Bombur, much to everyone's great surprise, had presented her with two rolls and a skin of water, smiling softy over at her in the process.

Fili, to nobody's great surprise, offered to take her to the small little stream up the mountain with a very obvious smirk on his face.

And Thorin, to nobody's surprise whatsoever, quickly smacked him on the back of the head and delegated Balin to take her to the stream to wash herself.

Gandalf had waited until the two of them had disappeared before he rose from his spot leaning against the tree and made his way over to Thorin. The dwarf was muttering angrily under his breath, pacing back and forth, ignoring the looks he was getting from his companions. None of them, save Gandalf, seemed brave enough to approach the volatile dwarf when he looked like he wanted nothing more than to punch a hole directly through the next thing, or person, he came in contact with.

"Thorin, I believe we have much to discuss." Gandalf said, choosing the most direct path to break the ice.

"If it is about the girl, I have not yet decided what to do with her." Thorin, rubbed the bridge of his nose, wracking his brain for a solution as to what to do with the interloping female.

"She is not a puppy that you send on its way Thorin Oakenshield." Gandalf said, earning a almighty glare from Thorin. "She is very odd, and I cannot seem to place why."

"Perhaps she is a spy." Thorin said, half seriously, half antagonizing.

"Perhaps we should ask her where she hails from before we assume she is a spy." Gandalf peered down at the perpetually angry dwarf. "I trust you know that she will need to go with us."

"Absolutely not." Thorin said slightly louder than he intended to, drawing the attention of some of his company over to him. "This is not some hiking trip. The hobbit is bad enough. I am not bringing some human female with us. She will surely fall behind or die, and I will not be responsible for that."

"Then what would you suggest we do Master Dwarf?" Gandalf asked, feeling his slight annoyance bubbling back up to the surface. "You refuse to go within a hundred leagues of Imaldris, the only feasible place that we could drop off Miss Montgomery."

The stubbornness of dwarves was truly astounding at the best.

"We could always just take her with us until we find a town that we could leave her in." Thorin looked over from the wizard, making eye contact with Dwalin as he lumbered over to them. He was flexing his large hands, making his dark tattoos stand out even more so than usual. "I do not fancy dragging such a weak woman with us through the wild."

"While I can see where you get that idea of thinking, my good Dwalin, I do not think it would be wise or ethical of us to leave her in the next village we come across." Gandalf said.

"The wee little lass can probably barely hold a knife properly, let alone use one." Thorin snapped, not really seeing Gandalf's point of view. "She would be dead within minutes if she were to go out into the wild."

"Do you have such little faith in yourselves?" Gandalf asked, taking a secret joy in the indignant looks that slid onto the faces of the two dwarves. "I have complete confidence that you will not let anything happen to her." Gandalf paused, looking over at the other side of the camp to where Emelia was returning gingerly with Balin. "Besides, I do believe there is much more to our little friend than her quick wit and annoyance at your nephew would suggest."

Thorin looked over at Emelia, not even bothering to hide the scowl on his face as he observed her. She was as clean as one could get using a stream as a bathtub. Her face was peppered with bruises and cuts, making her look like she had been hit multiple times. She had shed Balin's cloak, choosing instead to don just the shirt and pants that Ori had enthusiastically given her. Thorin thought it was a bit too enthusiastic, but he pushed that thought to the back of his mind.

It seemed that despite the dwarve's hospitality Lady Montgomery didn't really trust them completely. She was sitting on one of the stumps that the trolls had used, causing her to have to swing her legs at the height difference between her and the ground. She was eyeing each dwarf in his company individually, scrutinizing them one by one. She kept her gaze on Dwalin the longest, fixing him with a look that Thorin could identify as a mix between fear and undeniable distrust. She flinched every time one of the dwarves addressed her, making a wince appear on her nervous face every single time. The only person she seemed comfortable with, on a surface level at least, was Balin, and to a lesser extent the burglar.

It was clear that the hobbit alarmed her. Whenever he spoke to her, she eyed him with suspicion. She titled her bruised head side to side as she was studying him, assessing him.

While he would normally empathize with her wariness, for it was a trait that he himself had perfected in himself over many long decades of distrust, he found himself growing steadily more and more annoyed at her unexpected presence.

"What do you suggest we do then, Gandalf?" Thorin asked. Dwalin let out a small snort, causing the wizard to shoot him a dark look. "We cannot take her all the way with us to Erebor. I will not endanger the lives of those in this company, nor will I compromise our quest, for some flighty maiden with a very odd sense speaking and manner of dressing."

Gandalf was silent for a moment, looking over at the fidgety woman for a brief moment. "Perhaps the answer will come to us after we have spoken with our charming little addition before we pass judgment about whether she will be a burden or not."

"She neither and addition nor an asset." Thorin said in a deep, annoyed voice. "We will stay here for the night, and make our way to the troll cave at first light."

"What of the girl?" Dwalin asked, shooting the woman sitting gingerly amongst his kin a scathing look. "Do we take her with us?"

"She will not accompany us the entirety of this journey. We will find out something to do with her. She will not be an addition for long." Thorin said, ending the conversation for his part.

"Regardless, Thorin Oakenshield, of what you think about the subject, I think it is time we go introduce ourselves to Miss Montgomery. We have been terribly rude, wouldn't you say?" Gandalf gave Thorin one last look before moving over to the rest of the members of the group.

He stopped in his spot, feeling a smile slide onto his old face. He had planned on speaking to the woman before the night was over, but it did not appear that he was going to get his chance. She was curled up on the ground in a tight little ball, pulling Balin's cloak around her shoulders like a makeshift blanket. He could tell, even from across the camp, the her exhaustion, both mentally and physically had finally caught up with her, resulting in her falling asleep where she had been sitting.

* * *

Emelia had been more thankful than she could ever put into words at being given the opportunity to bathe and put on proper clothes. When Balin had led her to the small stream some distance away from the rest of the members of the group, she had practically thrown herself into the frigid water. It flowed so delightfully in front of her, making her realize, for what felt like the hundredth time, how much she missed her home. The water was the cleanest thing she had seen in the last four days, making it that much more inviting.

Balin had been respectful of her, of course, keeping his back to her as she lowered herself into to the water. The weightlessness of the liquid had made her feel like she wasn't as hurt as she felt like she was on the solid ground. Her joints weren't under as much strain and her bruises didn't feel like they were pressing into her as much. In general, she would have very much liked to stay in the water forever. Part of her had hoped that the current might sweep her off and send her back on way to Alaska.

Of course, that was more of a delusional wish than a legitimate thought.

She slipped off her underwear and bra, shooting a quick glance over at Balin to make sure that he still had his broad back turned to her, before scrubbing them so harshly her hands hurt. It made her sick to see them covered in such vulgar stains. It brought the memories of what had happened to her rushing back to her mind in full force. She could see the marks on her clothes, on her skin, and feel it underneath her skin. The places they had chained and roped her were covered in bruises and lacerations that stung as she attempted to scrub them clean.

The most horrifying and embarrassing part of the whole process was when she had to clean herself of her own filth. It made her insides squirm at the sight on her body. The whole thing made her squirm.

Emelia scrubbed her body until it felt like all of her skin was pink and raw. The amount of dirt and grime that had covered her was truly appalling. It had made the water around her completely brown and coppery looking.

"Lassie, are you alright?" Balin's voice drifted over to her, making her jump slightly in the cool water.

"Y-yes." Emelia said, sinking into the water so that only her head was sticking out. "I'm done."

"I will stay facing this direction until you are completely covered." Balin said simply, keeping his back to her.

"Thank you." Emelia said, realizing for the first time how thankful she was for the old man who was facing away from her. She hoped he picked up on her double meaning without her having to say it again. Especially while she was crouching naked in a freezing river.

"Think nothing of it." Balin said simply.

Emelia felt her sore face cracking into an almost nonexistent smile for the briefest of moments. She, against her wishes, carefully lifted herself out of the water, pulling her discarded bra and underwear with her. She had washed her socks before throwing them onto the shore. She slowly made her way back to the shore, picking her way around the more slippery rocks, before making her way over to where she had laid Balin's cloak down. She slipped it over her wet body before clearing her throat.

"All nice and clean are we?"

"Sort of." Emelia said, hoping she didn't sound whiney.

"Ori gave me an extra pair of clothes to give you. I do not think you want to go running about in your skivvies for the remainder of the cold night." He handed her a small bundle of clothes. "I will wait for you over here, shall I?"

Emelia nodded at the old man, pulling the clothes close to her chest.

When she was positive his back was fully turned to her, she immediately slipped the pants on. She didn't bother with her soiled underwear, choosing instead to drop them to the ground in a heap. She pulled her bra back on, choosing to ignore the fact it was still stained with her own vomit. It didn't smell as bad as she would have expected, so she choose to keep it on. She didn't really fancy being surrounded by men wearing nothing but a shirt and pants. She was already pushing it for herself to forgo her underwear. The pants were impossibly large for her. They were almost too short but swallowed her hips and thighs. The shirt was no better, pooling unattractively around her midsection.

If she had to guess, she would have said Ori was a paunchy around his stomach. He had given her clothes, however, so she wasn't going to complain.

Balin wasted no time in getting her back to the camp with the others. He had refused his cloak when she had extended her arm out to him, shaking his head with a good natured smile.

As soon as the two of them had walked into the troll clearing, Emelia was bombarded with large smiles and loud shouts of greeting.

She felt her body instantly shrinking back into its self. No matter how nice they had been to her, they still scared her to pieces.

"Come warm yourself by the fire, little lady." One of them boomed over at her, causing her to flinch slightly.

Emelia felt a hand on her back, leading her to a seat by the fire. She glanced around her for a moment before pulling herself up onto one of the stumps that the trolls had used. She could feel the eyes of all of them on her as she struggled to get herself into a comfortable, albeit awkward, position. She sat there for a moment looking at each one of them in turn. They were all watching her. Every single one of them. It was in that moment that she truly realized how many of them there truly were.

"I don't know any of your names." She said awkwardly, shifting in her spot.

"Of course you don't lassie." One of them said loudly, causing her to flinch ever so slightly. "I am Gloin son of Groin."

She blinked rapidly, doing her best not to laugh a Gloin's father's name. It seemed too ridiculous to be true, yet for some reason she didn't think he was kidding. Gloin did not look like the type to kid around. He was stout and sturdy looking with fiery red hair that could rival her fathers and a beard that would make a lumberjack feel ashamed.

"I am, as you know, Balin son of Fundin." Emelia smiled ever so slightly at the white haired man.

"Dori." He was salt and peppered, just like her own grandfather, and had a very gentle face.

"Nori." He looked odd, with his elaborate hair style and mousey looking eyes, but there was an undeniable intelligence and cunning about him.

"Ori." Ori was very shy and very sweet as he attempted to maintain eye contact throughout their introduction. He had an almost bowl cut like hairstyle and very minimal facial hair. Of course, it was still more than sour man that she assumed was called Kili.

"Oin son of Groin." Oin was the one who had fixed her arm, automatically endearing himself to her despite the fact that she didn't know him.

"Bofur." He was smiling kindly at her from his spot smoking by the fire. "And this here is Bifur." Bifur nodded at her, keeping his gaze even and steely.

"Bombur is what they call me miss." Bombur was enormously fat and ginger. "Here is some bread and water for you."

Emelia had to fight the urge to scramble over to Bombur and devour the food right then and there. Her stomach visibly hurt from the lack of substantial sustenance. She ignored the fact that she was barefoot and wearing clothes that were two times too big for her as she made her way over to Bombur, ignoring the slight kindly chuckles from those around her at her over zealousness. She grabbed the bread and water out of Bombur's fat hand, sending him a large smile of thanks before digging in to the first food she had seen in what felt like forever.

"You know, Kili, I do think her eating style lines up directly with yours." Emelia immediately looked up at the sound of the new voice. The blonde one, Fili was smiling widely at her, nudging Kili in the side. "I do have to say, you look quite breathtaking without all the dirt and grime. Don't you think so, brother?"

"I wouldn't go so far as to say that." Kili said sourly.

"You can't still be upset about the whole nose thing?" Emelia asked, feeling her familiar pension for sarcasm poking through, despite her overall feeling of discomfort. It was hard for her to be pleasant to someone when she was already feeling so out of sorts, let alone someone who was taking her actions far too seriously. It's not like she had intended to make him bleed, just make him let go of her. "I mean, you did tackle me like a linebacker. I hold you responsible for the whole thing."

"Lighten you're mood, brother. You are in the presence of a rather lovely lady." Fili said, clapping his brother roughly on the back. "She looks so nice after a good scrub."

"That is the general idea isn't it?" Emelia asked, making her way back over to the stump she had been previously on, taking her bread and water with her. "People tend to look better when not covered in troll refuse."

"Yes, that is usually how it goes." Fili shot her a charming smile before taking a seat next to the fire. Kili gave her one last look before moving to sit next to Fili, firmly keeping his gaze off of her for the rest of the night. It seemed he was going to be whinier than a middle school girl holding a grudge.

She sat there for a moment before she heard a small throat clear next to her, drawing her attention away from the men gathered around the fire and down to the ground next to the stump. It was the man-child.

"I am Bilbo Baggins, Lady Montgomery." He said, smiling tentatively up at her. Emelia couldn't help but scrunch up her face as she looked at Bilbo up and down. Her eyes were drawn almost instantly to his enormously large feet and pointed ears. His height, which was substantially smaller than her own, made him appear to be only a child, yet it was clear that he was far beyond that.

"What are you?" Emelia asked before she had even realized it. As soon as the words had left her mouth she immediately threw her hands over it, shaking her head as an apology. "That was rude. I'm sorry."

"It is quite alright miss." Bilbo smiled at her, despite her rude comment. "I am a hobbit."

"I have no idea what that is."

"A halfing. Shirefolk." He trailed off as she saw the look of alarm and confusion etching it way onto her face. "You…you don't know what I am. You've never even heard of a hobbit?"

"That's not surprising Mr. Baggins." Emelia looked around to see Balin and Gloin making their way slowly towards them. "Most dwarves and humans have never come across a hobbit before. I am sure the same goes for the little lass."

Emelia felt her eyes narrow. That wasn't the first time she had heard dwarves being mentioned after she had fallen through the ice. She looked around at all of the men surrounding her, feeling her anxiety rising yet again. She had thought it had passed for the briefest of moments, only to come roaring back in full force. It filled her up, bubbling up to the surface, making her skin and eyes feel like she was burning from the sun all over again. She felt her skin flushing and sweating slightly as she tried to process the new information.

"And by dwarves you mean..." she trailed off.

"Us of course, Lassie." Gloin said in a booming voice.

"Right." Emelia immediately stood up from her spot on the stump. "You're all insane. I told myself you were crazy. I knew it. I ignored myself, even though I knew you guys were all kinds of crazy. Like bat-shit crazy. But I said, 'Maybe not. Maybe I'm the crazy one for thinking that I fell through the ice in Alaska and ended up in some jungle in the middle of nowhere.' But I can safely say, that you gentlemen are in the fact the ones that need to go visit the loony bin. Like you're all a bunch of nutt…"

She trailed off, feeling her breathing reaching critical levels. She bent over on herself, placing her hands on her knees, taking in very deep breaths.

"Are you alright, lassie." Gloin asked, taking a tentative step towards her. "You look like a tomato."

Emelia felt her eyes becoming hazy as she looked at the grassy ground beneath her. She imagined that she would have been much better able to handle the new information if she hadn't been so exhausted. In fact, when she looked back on the whole situation, her over the top reaction embarrassed her to no end. She had been held by trolls. Dwarves were not the most ludicrous thing she could have imagined. It seemed that in the moment, however, it was hard for her tired brain to process everything that had been thrown at her. She felt her legs shaking slightly, causing her to sit herself on the ground.

Dwarves. They were dwarves. Like Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. Only this time, she was Snow White and it wasn't seven dwarves, but thirteen.

Eddy, her younger brother, would have been delighted. He had always loved that sort of thing.

"I think I just need a moment." Emelia squeaked out. "Just to process…things."

"Gloin, give her some space." Balin said. She felt something heavy draping over her shoulders. "Take all the time you need, lassie."

Emelia nodded, trying to wrap her head around things. "You should get some sleep. It will give you time to process and recover. We have a long road tomorrow." Balin said kindly to her.

"Right, sleep." Emelia managed to slur out. "I should sleep…"

She wanted to sleep. It was almost a desperate need at that point in her life. She wanted to be able to shut her eyes and forget the surprisingly hospitable dwarves. She wanted to curl up and wake up not covered in lacerations and bruises, but she knew that wouldn't happen. She wanted to have her family babying her over her injuries, telling her to stop whining so much before they kissed her sweetly on the cheek and left her to her pain meds. She wanted ibuprofen.

She wanted so much that she knew she wasn't going to get.

She laid her body down on the moist ground, keeping Balin's cloak firmly around her.

Emelia was a rational person. She knew it was stupid to keep kidding herself into thinking that she was dreaming all of this. She knew it was real. She didn't have the foggiest idea how it was possible. She could touch the world around her; taste the humidity on her tongue. It told her that everything was real. It told her that her family was so far away from her it made her physically hurt. She pulled her legs even closer to her, ignoring the muttering that was happening around her.

She knew everything was real. It was real. The injuries were real. The dwarves who had saved her, despite her sour attitude and reluctance, were real.

She didn't know what was going to happen the next morning, nor did she really have the energy to think about it. All she knew was that she was planning on waking up and being a lot nicer to the dwarves who had most definitely saved her from being eaten alive. She had learned from her parents that the best way to move on from a traumatic event, was to find the bright side of the whole thing. She supposed that the bright side of everything was that she got to sleep on the soft ground, not chained like a common dog.

And that was really all she could ask for and hope for.


	7. The Boonies

Balin had never seen a person so odd before in his long life. Emelia had been tortured, that much was clear by her injuries and overall distrusting demeanor, but other than that none of them could discern any telling information about her. She was an enigma, at best, and it puzzled the group of dwarves to no end.

Balin had not been surprised when she fell into a deep slumber after her less than pleasant outburst. He had seen the weariness of the past day's events weighing on her heavily. Her eyes were so dull and listless; he was surprised she had managed to stay awake as long as she had. Her sturdiness was surprising for such a small woman, and it impressed Balin, even if it was ever so slightly. He was not impressed, however, with the insults that she had been flinging at them, whether inadvertent and unintentional or not.

None of the dwarves were in fact.

Dwalin was the most annoyed and insulted by her words, going so far as to say they should just leave the little woman to her own devices.

Balin, and the majority of the other dwarves, had denied him that request almost as soon as it had left his mouth. None of them, despite their offense at being called insane in rather colorful terms, deemed it right or proper to just leave her where they had found her. She would die if left alone, and none of them could really stomach the thought with a good conscious.

Besides, Balin had taken a distinct liking to the little woman.

"We just can't ignore what she said." Dwalin snapped, ignoring the eye rolling of his older brother. "There is no excuse for it."

"I do not believe that our mother would have approved of your chivalry, Dwalin." Balin snapped back, shooting a glance back over at the sleeping woman. "I do not think she meant it as a form of offense."

"Perhaps she meant it as a way of complementing us?" Ori offered, sitting himself down on the grass.

"In what way is what she said a compliment Ori?" Dori asked derisively, shooting his younger brother a scathing look. "Being compared to Bat droppings isn't exactly complementary."

"Regardless of her offensive nature," Thorin cut across the debating dwarves. "When she wakes up in the morning, she will not be traveling with us, for any distance, until she answers some questions about where she came from who she is."

"Who she is?" Fili asked, keeping his gaze on the sleeping woman. She was curled into a tight little ball, quenching her eyes shut as if she was willing herself to stay asleep. "I thought she was being pretty forthcoming with who she is."

"Stop staring at her, brother." Kili said a little louder than Fili would have liked. "You might wake her up with the intensity."

Fili felt his face heating up involuntarily as all of the dwarves immediately looked over at him with raised eyebrows. "Quiet, Kili." Fili hissed, shifting slightly as he felt his uncle's intense gaze turn to him. He had lived with his uncle long enough to know when he was angry with him. His normally tan face became red and his forehead vein became more prominent.

"Both of you need to quiet yourselves." Thorin snapped. "You are of the line of Durin. I suggest you start acting like it. A pretty face should not offer such a distraction that you forget you are royalty, not some blundering vagrant incapable of controlling his thoughts or mouth."

Fili snapped his mouth shut immediately. He had been on the receiving end of his uncle's anger many times before. He had always learned to take it as it was. Thorin did not mean it maliciously or out of anything but caring. However, even though Fili knew that, he couldn't not help but feel impossibly small under his uncle's heated gaze. In truth, Fili had not meant a single thing by his playful comments towards Emelia. It was his sole intention to make her feel better about the fact that she was covered in troll filth, not to make her uncomfortable. He had not meant to come across as inappropriate and leering in any way. The fact that he did think she was, in fact, a pretty face didn't help the situation any.

"Sorry Uncle." Fili said quietly. "I will not address her in such a manner again."

"To be clear, Uncle, I wasn't distracted by a pretty face." Kili said, ignoring the sudden elbow in his side from his brother.

The dwarves all let out loud laughter at the dwarf's quip, muttering comments under their breath. Thorin turned his angry gaze on his youngest nephew, not finding anything remotely humorous about his comment. In fact, he found nothing humorous about the current situation what so ever.

"Miss Montgomery will not be a distraction, to any of you, no matter her situation." Thorin said gruffly, shooting a look to each of the dwarves in turn. "We leave for the troll hoard at first light, regardless of whether she is with us or not."

"We cannot just drag her back to the place those monsters kept her in." Balin said, moving forward slightly from his spot next to his large brother. "That would be cruel, Thorin Oakenshield and you know it as well as the rest of us."

The rest of the company watched the two dwarves for a moment, feeling the tension falling all over them. It wasn't often that they were witness to Thorin being challenged. It made all of them feel distinctly uncomfortable as they watched their King's jaw muscle working tightly underneath his dark, well-kept beard.

"Then what do you suggest we do?" Thorin asked tightly.

"Remember the fact that she is, in fact, a victim of the trolls. They kept her chained up for days. I do not think it would do us, or her, any good to force her to relive that rather traumatic experience."

"Quite right you are Master Balin." Gandalf said suddenly, surprising them all at his sudden presence. He had been out with the hobbit, scanning the area around them, offering the dwarves time to process their newest addition. "I think that would be most cruel indeed."

"I am surprised she is able to sleep so well," Bilbo said, faltering slightly as Thorin turned his glare on him. "Considering."

Thorin felt his anger mounting to an almost undeniable level. No one seemed to understand his anger and annoyance at the sudden appearance of the woman. Some of them seemed almost delighted by her unexpected presence. He was far from delighted. He did not know her, and he didn't want to know her. He saw no scenario in which she didn't distract from their quest to reclaim Erebor. She was small and appeared to be rather incapable of defending herself. She would be a burden, and he seemed to be the only one sensible enough to notice that.

"We cannot deter from out path to be sensitive to her fragile state."

"How do you know she is in such a fragile state?" Gandalf asked, a twinkle of mirth finding its way to his eyes. "She did manage to break your nephews nose, after all."

Kili shrunk in slightly at the wizards words. He had hoped to ignore the fact that the little blip of a girl had managed to get the better of him. It was not something he was proud of. In fact, it made him dislike the woman more than he probably should have.

"That was not…"

Thorin cut off Kili with a sharp look. "She cannot defend herself."

"A superficial and unfounded observation." Gandalf said simply, noticing that his words made the King's jaw clench up even more.

Thorin opened his mouth to respond with what everyone would assume would be a snide comment when he was cut off by a loud whimpering coming from the opposite side of the camp from them. They all looked over, brandishing their weapons, only to lower them almost instantly.

Emelia was currently curled into a ball so small, the dwarves would have thought she was only the size of a small child. She was squeezing her eyes so tightly it was amazing she hadn't woken herself up. It wasn't her position that was alarming to the dwarves, it was the fact that she was currently crying and whimpering like she was in physical pain. Her body was shuddering and shaking, making it appear that she was scared and traumatized.

"She's crying…" Bilbo trailed off, not entirely sure how to remedy the situation.

"I would imagine the lass is having a nightmare." Balin said slowly. "Completely understandable."

"A very astute observation." Gandalf said, not without a slight hint of sarcasm, albeit unnoticeable.

They were quiet for a moment watching her as she shuddered in Balin's cloak.

"Should we," Bofur spoke up, sounding entirely uncomfortable. "Er, do something?"

All of the dwarves eyed the crying woman awkwardly, shifting on their feet. "Gloin, you heard him." Bombur said, shoving the redheaded dwarf forward with a slight shove. "Go see if you can get her to stop crying."

"And why is this my job?" Gloin asked, shooting Bombur a dark look for the sudden shove.

"You have a wife don't you?" Bombur said, as if it was the most obvious thing in all of middle earth. "And a son. You are the most qualified amongst us to go and see if you can get her to stop crying."

"Er, well…" Gloin was not eager to try and get the sobbing woman to stop crying. He could barely manage to get his own wife to stop crying, let alone some lassie he had never really spoken to besides introducing himself in a brief sentence. "Perhaps she is just hungry again?" Gloin offered, earning a few chuckles from the dwarves. "That usually worked with Gimli."

"Gimli was also a fat little…" Bofur started with a large smile, earning a glower from Gloin.

"Watch your words." Gloin snapped, pointing a large finger at Bofur.

"Your emotional incompetence is rather astounding sometimes." Bilbo said suddenly from next to Gandalf, surprising not only himself and every dwarf around him. He suddenly felt his face heat up as they all looked at him in varying states of shock. That is, except for Thorin, who still wore his face of perpetual anger and annoyance. Thorin let out a gruff sigh, crossing his arms over his chest, brushing past the hobbits little outburst. He had no time for the crying woman, as her distress was likely to pass with time. That was what he had noticed, at least.

"We have spent too much time on this." Thorin said, ending the conversations around him. "We leave at first light; I suggest you all get some sleep. Dwalin you take first watch. Make sure Miss Montgomery does not move from her spot. Balin, make sure she is ready to move in the morning. I will not have her slowing us down any more."

All of the dwarves sensed that Thorin was not to be messed with on the matter. They all lumbered back to their respective packs and bedrolls, shooting the now almost silent woman sympathetic looks, before settling themselves down for a restless night's sleep. Emelia had quieted down from her small crying fit, only to shudder slightly before pulling knees to her chest even tighter. She didn't make much noise after her little crying debacle, which relieved all of the dwarves immensely.

It seemed, as most of them would attest to, a crying female eluded them more and made them all more uncomfortable than even the most bloody of battles.

* * *

Emelia had not had a single nightmare in the last ten years of her life. She had fallen through the ice when she was eight years old, resulting in her being hospitalized with a severe case of pneumonia and hypothermia for what felt like weeks. While she had been forced to stay in the children's ward, she had had nightmares that she was falling thought the ice over and over again. She dreamt that she hadn't been able to swim back to the top, that she hadn't been saved.

Those nightmares seemed so tame compared to the one she had had her first night being away from the trolls. She had been able to sleep for the first couple of hours rather peacefully before she had been assaulted by images from the past couple of days.

The worst was seeing Frinil and Fern being eaten, despite the fact that she knew they got away safe and sound. Their screams made her cry over and over again.

She tried to rationalize and tell herself that none of it was real, but it never seemed to work. The nightmare got progressively worse, transitioning from Frinil and Fern being eaten alive, to her mother, father, and brother being eaten directly in front of her. It happened over and over again until she finally woke up in a cold sweat.

Emelia's chest was heaving as she struggled to get grips on where she was exactly while simultaneously trying to calm herself down. She had to repeat to herself over and over again that her family's deaths had not been real. she glanced around her, taking in the slightly lightening sky, indicating that dawn wasn't too far off.

"You should be sleeping, considering the circumstances." A voice said from out of nowhere, causing Emelia to let out a small scream. She felt her chest constrict involuntarily, making it slightly harder to breathe normally. "Sorry." The voices sentiment did not reach the sound of the voice.

Emelia looked around until she found the source of the voice, only to find herself wishing she had stayed asleep. Kili was watching her from his spot atop one of the troll stumps, an odd expression on his stubble covered face.

"Shouldn't you be sleeping as well?" Emelia asked, finding it hard to be civil to the dwarf with the nasty attitude.

"I have to keep watch?" Kili said, scrunching his face up in confusion at her lack of knowledge about traveling in the wild. "Surely you should know that."

"Why would I know that?" Emelia snapped, standing up from her spot. She immediately regretted moving so quickly when she felt all the pain in her joints and muscles come roaring back to her. She hobbled over to him, avoiding stepping on dwarves as she went. "It's not like I spend my time flouncing about in the boonies."

Kili wasn't exactly sure how to respond to her last sentence. "That makes no sense." He said, turning his attention away from her and back to the trees that surrounded he troll clearing.

"The boonies? You know, the sticks…" She trailed off when she saw no recognition cross his face. "The outback?"

"You speak alarmingly." Kili said simply.

"That's…"

"Why don't you just go back to sleep? It was much easier to keep watch without you prattling in my ear in your odd manner of speaking." Kili snapped, his uncle's words completely forgotten.

"I should have hit you harder." Emelia muttered darkly, hobbling her way back to the little patch of grass. "Stupid little princess…" He could hear her trailing off angrily, plopping herself into her previous spot before pulling Balin's cloak over her face with a thorough tug.

"I should have let you keep running." Kili mused more to himself than to her.

He wasn't exactly sure what it was about the woman that bothered him so thoroughly. She seemed pleasant enough, from her interactions with the fellow members of his company. Fili had taken an instant liking to her, as appalling as Kili found her to be. It was not surprising that Balin liked her. Balin liked everybody that wasn't an elf or an orc. It wasn't as if Kili had much to base his opinions on, besides his still stinging nose. She had said little to nothing about herself since she had unceremoniously appeared amongst them. They knew her name and that was the extent of their knowledge.

Kili suspected there was much more to her than one would first assume. However, he had made a promise to himself that he wasn't going to be the one to figure it out.

With his luck, she would find a way to injure a more vital, and personally valuable part of his body, despite her small size and unintimidating nature.

He knew he should have given her time to show that she wasn't as much of a burden as they all initially thought. Kili couldn't help but feel slightly better that she had turned his uncle's never yielding anger and annoyance onto her, as opposed to him. Kili, with the persistence of Fili, had to practically beg his uncle to allow him to come. He had insisted he would pull his fair share; that he wouldn't be a burden. He had felt a little too happy when he had first laid eyes on Bilbo Baggins. And now that he was looking at the sour woman with no foreseeable skills that could help them, he couldn't help but feel like the focus had been entirely shifted away from himself.

He knew it was selfish, and Thorin would say it was just more evidence that he wasn't old enough to accompany them, but he couldn't help the line of thought.

He glanced over at her small form, feeling his nose twinge slightly at the memory of her boney elbow colliding with it. It had come out of seemingly nowhere, making him see stars shoot across his vision. It had not been his intention to startle her. He, as well as every other member of their group, could see that she had been mistreated in the cruelest of ways. The bruises that covered her body were suspect, at best, and very horrible to look at. They had stood out on her pale skin, making them look vivid and horrendous.

It was for that reason, in addition to the fact that she was a female, that Kili had regretted grabbing her around her middle to stop her from running away from them. He pitied her. It was obvious she had gone through something that not even most grown dwarves, with the exception of those from Erebor, could imagine or fathom. He wouldn't have let her keep running, despite what he may have said aloud. It just wouldn't have been proper. He regretted treating her that way.

That is, until she landed a solid hit to the middle of his nose.

It made her a little less sympathetic in his eyes.

Kili did not exactly know what he thought of the woman, besides the initial hostility. She was small, at least smaller than him, and deceptively slight. She was pleasing to look at, not that he would ever acknowledge that, yet there was something off about her. Whether it be the odd way she carried herself, or the odd manner in which she spoke, there was something undeniably weird about her, and it made Kili regard her with the utmost caution and concern.

She could be a spy. She could be a thief. She could be a murderer. Or she could be nothing at all.

She may have been pretty, but she had a mouth, and elbows, that would get her in trouble; trouble that could be the end of the group traveling to reclaim their home in Erebor. And Kili would be damned before he let that happen.


	8. Dark and Delightful

Emelia did not manage to go back to sleep after she woke up from her nightmares. For the first part of the early morning she had been annoyed at Kili, making it almost impossible to try and sleep through her agitation. Her entire body was still sore, adding to the stress that the dwarf had caused her and making it almost impossible to find a comfortable way to sleep. For the second part of the early morning, once she had given up on falling back asleep, she found herself thinking about the nightmares she had had entirely against her will.

She was already tired enough without having to relive the nightmares. She didn't need them being played on repeat, when it was very unlikely that she would forget them anyway.

Emelia was not surprised at how long it took the sun to rise as she laid in her uncomfortable little ball, clutching Balin's cloak to her chest for dear life. She wasn't surprised by the fact that as soon as the sun started peeking over the trees her sunburns started to twinge again. She wasn't surprised that all of the dwarves were stubborn as mules when faced with getting up. And she wasn't surprised that all of them seemed very inclined to wanting a massively huge breakfast, cooked, of course, by Bombur. She was surprised, however, when she was confronted with the leader of the company of dwarves looking down at her in her spot curled up on the ground.

She immediately shot up into a sitting position, moving herself back slightly from the intimidating dwarf out of reflex. She hoped that, at some point, she would no longer feel afraid of the dwarves as her first response.

"You will come with me." He said simply, fixing her with a very steely look.

"Erm…"

"This is not a discussion Miss Montgomery." He said, turning and walking back over the spot he had been occupying previously.

Emelia watched him, feeling her chest tighten up. She hadn't even learned his name, let alone talked to him. He had been steadily glaring at her for the entirety of her time with the group of dwarves, making her feel like he was secretly plotting all the ways he could get rid of her.

She imagined, just by looking at his face and demeanor, he was quite creative when it came to offing people he didn't like. People he didn't like being her specifically.

It took her more time than she would have liked to lift herself off the ground, contributing to the already sour mood of the company leader. He was watching her a with a look that could only be described as anger and frustration as she hobbled over to him, ignoring the looks that she was getting from all of the dwarves. She imagined they knew exactly what she was walking into.

She kept her head held high, as best she could, all the way up until she was directly in front of him. She had tried to be confident, but all of that had been completely lost when she made eye contact with the intimidating leader. He exuded power and it made her feel slightly nauseous. He was one of the few dwarves that were taller than her, adding to her uneasiness at being forced to have a one on one conversation with him. She couldn't help but feel that it would be much easier if he was the size of Ori or Balin, as opposed to the staggering size of Balin's brother, Dwalin.

Emelia felt like he was tearing her limb from limb with his angry gaze in the time that he stared her down. It felt like a million years to Emelia before he finally opened his mouth to address her with open disdain.

"Where do you hail from?" He asked bluntly, crossing his arms over his massive chest.

Emelia felt her eyes narrow slightly. She didn't really see how where she 'hailed' from mattered. She didn't ask them. She honestly didn't really care. Dwarves were dwarves, as weird as that sounded in her mind, and she didn't really see a distinction. Of course, she was probably being horribly ignorant, but it didn't change the fact that she didn't think them knowing where she came from mattered.

It didn't help matters that she wasn't overly fond of the idea of talking about her home with a man who looked like he kicked puppies for fun.

He waited with his jaw tensed and fingers flexing slightly, regarding her as she debated internally. He would probably stand there all day waiting for her to answer him. He seemed like that type of stubborn.

In the time that it took her to decide whether or not to tell the whole truth regarding where she came from, Gandalf came sidling over, smirking from something that one of the numerous dwarves had said. He leaned on his staff heavily, looking down at Emelia with his large, scrutinizing eyes. Despite the fact that she hadn't known the tall man longer than any of the others, he made her feel much more comfortable than the leader of the company did. Of course, she was certain a Grimm Reaper would make her feel more comfortable than the leader did.

It was because of Gandalf that she finally, begrudgingly, told the two of them where she was from.

"I'm from Kessog, Alaska." She said slowly, regretting almost every syllable as soon as they were out of her mouth.

They both looked down at her in utter confusion; eyes scanning her face for what she assumed, were signs of deception. The leader immediately tensed up further at her words, shifting his stance to even more defensive than she would have ever thought possible. She felt herself shrinking under his horribly distrusting gaze. It took all of her willpower to not take a step back from him, like the coward she was trying so hard to pretend not to be.

"I have no knowledge of such a place as Kessog, Alaska." She couldn't help but resent him slightly for the tone in his voice when he had said the name of her town.

"You've never heard of Alaska?" Emelia asked, copying his stance and crossing her arms over her sore chest. She remembered vividly all the times her and her mother and glared at each other with their arms crossed over their chests, mimicking each other's stubborn faces.

Of course the dwarf leader was so far from being even remotely similar to her mother it wasn't even funny.

"Why would I have heard of such an absurd place?" He growled back, indicating his complete and utter lack of patience.

She completely ignored the jibe about Alaska being an absurd place. "What kind of rock have you been living under to not have heard of Alaska?" Emelia fired back, despite her mind telling her to keep her mouth shut. The leader scared the proverbial shit out of her, as vulgar as it sounded, and she couldn't even fathom why she was bothering to open her mouth at all. It wasn't as if she had anything to back up her sassy attitude. She could probably land one good punch before he had down on the ground crying like a little baby.

Apparently that was the wrong thing to say, judging by the collective silencing that happened around her. She looked over at them, taking in the mixture of emotions varying from affronted, insulted, and in Ori's case, fear as he looked back and forth between her and the leader. She hadn't realized they had been eavesdropping on their conversation. She felt her face flush as she took in each other their varying expressions of offence. Some of the dwarves were muttering, shaking their heads at her apparently horrifically rude comment. Kili was regarding her with the same look that he had thus far always regarded her with which came as no great shock to her in the slightest.

"I think, my dear, we should discuss this matter in a more private place." Gandalf said, drawing her attention back over to him and the leader with a large hand placed on her trembling shoulder. "Thorin, shall we?"

The name Thorin seemed to fit the angry dwarf more than any of the ridiculous names she had concocted up in her mind. He glared at her for a moment longer before he nodded to Gandalf, indicating that she should follow after the tall man in the grey. It seemed he wasn't comfortable with letting her out of his line of vision. However, if she was being honest, she wasn't very comfortable with the angry man being out of her own line of sight either.

They did not walk far before Gandalf turned back around to the two of them, a slight smile on his lined face. He seemed far too amused by her for her liking and comfort.

"You will stop lying." Thorin said angrily, fixing her with a very dark look. "Where do you hail from?"

She felt her face scrunch up in confusion. She had just told him where she was from. The words had literally just come out of her mouth. Emelia was quite sure Thorin wasn't the type of person to play practical jokes, leaving the only option of him being serious about not having heard of Alaska.

"I already told you, I am from Kessog, Alaska." She paused, feeling panic return to her chest when she saw his hand move down to the knife he kept on his belt. "In the north. It's by Canada…" She trailed off when she saw that her words weren't helping. She felt like she was speaking to a child who had no concept of the world in the slightest.

Even Gandalf was looking at her like she was rambling on about things that only the mentally insane would talk about.

"Where," She paused, not liking the direction that the uncomfortable conversation was going. "Where would you expect me to be from?"

Gandalf peered down at her with intense eyes, making her feel very much like he was seeing directly through her. "You are a most intriguing little one aren't you?"

"Intriguing or not, she will go no further with this company until she explains her purpose in this part of the world."

"I could if I knew where this part of the world was." Emelia said, surprising herself at the sassiness in her voice. Normally she would have kept her mouth shut in situation such as the one she found herself in. Of course, she had never been glared at by a dwarf leader with a particularly sharp looking knife strapped to his waist.

"You are in the borderlands between the shire and Rivendell." Gandalf said, ignoring the slight scoff of the dwarf at the mention of the second place.

"Are those counties or…" She trailed off, feeling utterly confused.

Thorin looked down at her like she had grown a second head spontaneously. "I do not know if you are being intentionally clueless, but I will tell you this Miss Montgomery, now is not the time, nor the place, to cause problems for me and this company."

Emelia felt like she was being pranked. Her eyes narrowed in confusion as she backed away even further from Thorin, until she felt her back smack into one of the trees that offered cover from the morning sun to the three. The roughness of the tree bark scrubbed against her back, making it feel like she was being hugged by sandpaper from behind. Thorin took an intimidating step towards her, ignoring the chiding's from Gandalf as he did.

"You will tell me how you came to be alone in the wild speaking and rambling about made up places."

Emelia looked back and forth between the two of them. She had thought she was done feeling like a caged animal having been relieved of the trolls company, but now that she was back into a tree, looking around wildly, she suddenly felt like her situation had not changed at all. She still felt trapped and stifled. She still felt alone and scared. The only thing that had changed was instead of being almost eaten by trolls she was being judged and disdained by a group of thirteen dwarves.

"I fell through the ice," Her voice shook as she tried to press herself into the tree even more. "He wasn't supposed to go over to the thin ice, but he did. He did even though we told him not to. He did and he fell. And me," She suddenly found herself sobbing, sinking down into the moist earth at the base of the tree, completely oblivious to the alarmed look on Thorin's face. "I had to go in after him. I couldn't just let him die." She pulled her legs up into her chest. "So I jumped in and ended up here. It was snowy when I left and now I'm sweating like a pig in a forest. I jumped in to save him and I ended up in some random place, surrounded by random people, being asked random questions that I have no real answer for."

She was completely out of breath, making her sobs come out like dry heaves as she tried to steady her breathing. She had not meant to become a sobbing, blubbering mess in front of Thorin. In fact, she had meant to never become one in front of any of them. She had wanted to curl up and cry for days and now that she had finally let loose about her little trip down through the water, she couldn't hold it in anymore.

"I am sorry. I didn't mean to end up here, bothering you and your band of merry men." She chocked out thickly, keeping face pressed firmly into her knees, making her voice come out like a muffled mess. "I'm sorry but I don't know where I am, or why I am here," She paused, letting out another loud sob. "And it scares me."

The two men were silent, looking down at the mysterious woman with mouths slightly agape. Gandalf immediately moved forward, placing a tentative hand onto her trembling shoulder. His hand covered her small shoulder completely, highlighting just how much larger than her he was. She flinched violently when his hand touched her shoulder, but she did not try and back away from him like he had observed her doing in the time she had been with the dwarves. Gandalf, for his part, pitied the young woman. Her story was patchy and sparse, at best, but from what he understood it was more frightening and traumatic than any young woman should have to experience alone, if not at all.

Thorin glanced over at the wizard briefly before he spoke to her in a gravelly voice, feeling entirely awkward as he looked down at the crying woman.

"I did not mean to frighten you further." Her sobbing had descended into dry heaves, making her sound and look very much like the youngling dwarves when they were injured or upset. "It was certainly not my intention Miss Montgomery."

"Thorin, we found the troll tracks and everything is packed up." A voice suddenly said, causing all three of the people huddled away from the rest of the company to look up at the sudden appearance of the new dwarf. Fili, followed closely by Kili looked at their uncle for a moment before their gazes trailed down to the red faced woman huddled on the floor. Fili glanced back over at his brother briefly before he moved closer to the small group, only to be stopped by Thorin holding up a large hand, halting him in his tracks.

Fili looked down at Emelia, trying his best to look sympathetic towards her. She did not see his attempts to smile at her in order to make her lighten her mood. No, all she could see was Kili starring down at her while she cried like a wailing baby. That was enough to make even the most injured of people sober up completely. She felt her entire face flush at the thought of him seeing her crying and huddled in the dirt. He would probably hold it against her for the nose thing. The thought made her entire chest burn at the thought.

"Tell the rest of the company that we will leave momentarily." Thorin said, dismissing his two nephews with a stern look.

Kili immediately turned over his shoulder and stalked back over to the rest of the dwarves, pulling a hesitant Fili along behind him.

Thorin watched them walk away for a moment before he addressed the small woman on the ground. She had stopped crying and was watching the two dwarves with an odd look on her tear stained and puffy face.

"Are you well enough to travel?" Thorin asked, ignoring the dark look he received from Gandalf at the less than sympathetic tone in his voice.

"I kind of have to be, don't I?" She asked, allowing her legs to straighten out in front of her, revealing the moisture that her eyes had left from being smashed into the tops of her knees. "I'm not going to stick around here on my own only to be grabbed by something worse than some demented trolls."

Thorin felt his eyebrows raise at the sudden change in her personality. Not five moments ago she had been crying like an infant, curled up into a tight ball, hugging her legs like they were the only thing she trusted. And now she was lifting herself off the ground heavily, brushing the dirt and twigs from her backside, looking over at Thorin with a begrudging sort of trust that he attributed to unadulterated desperation. She had not wanted to come with them, but she knew she had to if she wanted to survive. If she wanted to make it out of the forest, she would have to trust them, as apparent as it was that that caused her no small amount of pain to her pride and conscious.

"Then let us move on. We have spent enough time in this godforsaken place to last the lifetime of a hundred dwarves." With that Thorin stomped back over to the rest of the group effectively ending the conversation and leaving Gandalf and Emelia standing alone in the forest.

"I suppose that would be our cue to follow, wouldn't you think my dear?" Gandalf asked with an amused smile on his face. "Let us see if we can't find you some shoes before we depart."

* * *

If Emelia was being honest with herself, there wasn't a dwarf that she would have liked to share a pony with. They were all a complete mystery to her, making the thought of sitting back to front with one of them more than a little uncomfortable to think about. That being said, she found herself, rather surprisingly, enjoying the company of Fili, who had so graciously offered to share his pony with her. He had placed her in front of him, wrapping only one arm around her to grab a hold of the reins, using the other to gesture around them wildly as he told her stories of their home in the Blue Mountains.

Early on in their journey to the troll cave he had apologized, rather profusely and profoundly for the way he had addressed her and spoken to her when he didn't even know her name. It wasn't just the way he spoke that she found to be odd; it was the content that alarmed her.

He seemed to think it inappropriate to comment on her physical being after not knowing her for more than a couple of moments.

Emelia had to stop the laughter when he had apologized profusely.

She had not minded his forwardness. In fact, she had quite enjoyed it for the simple fact that it was one of the few things that were familiar to her. The boys in her hometown, as few as they were, had said that sort of thing all of the time regardless of whether she wanted them to or not. It made her feel like she was closer to home, as odd as it was, and that fact comforted her immensely.

Fili had relaxed even further after she had told him that his words did not bother her, resulting in an even more animated and talkative ride that left Emelia feeling slightly brain-dead from all of his words and slightly dizzy from trying to keep up with all of the different dwarves in his elaborate tales.

"You should have seen his face when he finally got out of the pond, Emelia." Fili said, laughing loudly at the look his brother was shooting the two of them from over his blue clad shoulder. Emelia found no need to quite Fili, considering he was currently telling her a rather embarrassing story of Kili. Anything that embarrassed him made her feel slightly happier, even though she couldn't really explain why. "He looked like a proper drowned rat. Uncle was furious when he trolled water and mud through the house. Turned red as a beat."

"Did you forget to tell him that you pushed him in?" Emelia asked, feeling a slight chuckle come bubbling up in her chest despite her perpetual sour mood.

"I saw now reason that uncle should be privy to that information." Fili said, letting out a loud booming laugh when he saw his brother shoot him another dark look before spurring his pony to move away from the two of them. "Besides, Kili had tattled on me for ruining mother's new dress not two days before. It served the little wanker right."

"And I'm sure he agreed with you."

"Well I am the elder brother, as much as he'd like to deny it, so he always has to agree with me." Fili said, puffing out his chest so much with pride, Emelia could feel his armor pressing into her back even more.

"Elder bother more like it." Emelia said, immediately regretting it. She didn't know if it was too soon to be joking with him, making her face heat up with the thought of what he would say.

"That was funny Miss Emelia." Fili said, poking her with his free hand. "I'm impressed."

"You don't know me well enough to be impressed or not." Emelia pointed out, earning a loud chuckle from Fili.

"From what I do know, I think you're absolutely and delightfully at odds with my little brother, making you entertaining and alright in my view."

"Speaking of dark and delightful up there," Emelia said, earning an ever louder chuckle from not only Fili, but from Gloin and Nori as well. "I don't really understand what his problem is with me."

"He's just upset because you damaged his ugly mug." Gloin said, shooting her a wry smile. "He gets enough flack as it is from dwarf women back home."

Emelia couldn't help but feel like Kili, the snarky little buggar, wouldn't exactly be happy with them discussing him in such a way. He had done nothing to put himself in the good graces of her, but she still felt slightly bad for the way the other dwarves were making fun of him. Not that she would say much to stop them. She couldn't help herself from thinking, despite herself, that those dwarves were more than slightly wrong about Kili having an 'ugly mug'. If she was being honest, he was quite the opposite with his dark hair and impossibly, intimidatingly handsome face. Not that she would tell the little princess that. He pissed her off royally and she was likely to give him something to hold over her, in addition to his stupid nose, in any way at all.

"I am sure he does alright." Emelia said before she even thought about it. She felt Fili tense up slightly, silencing his laughing at her words. Gloin shifted awkwardly in his spot on his brown pony, shooting her an odd look. "With the women I mean."

"Don't let him hear you say that." Fili said, spurring their pony to a slower pace. "He'll never let you forget it."

"I imagine he wouldn't…" Emelia trailed off, feeling her entire stomach churn as she looked around the area that they found themselves in. She recognized it almost instantly as the area that led just up to the troll hole that she had been kept in for three solid days.

She had hoped she wouldn't have to come back to it. She had heard the dwarves talking about finding where the trolls kept her and their treasure, but she had rationalized it in her mind that she would not be with them when they went on that little trip. She would have much rather stayed in the little clearing, where Thorin had wanted so badly to leave her, than to ever have to venture within a hundred miles of the nasty little cave ever again.

Of course, when was she ever one to get what she wanted? Especially if the last few days were any sort of indication.

It took the company a little less than thirty minutes to finally come to a stop outside of the troll hole. The smell of decay immediately washed over all of them, making the dwarves make noises of disgust and revulsion as they dismounted their ponies. Fili helped her down gingerly, eyeing her stocking clad feet warily before he left her side to go speak to his brother.

They had not been able to find her shoes, leaving them with the only option to all, including Kili, give her an extra pair of socks to layer to avoid damaging her small feet. The result was her traipsing about looking like she had suddenly sprouted feet that should have belonged to a man about four hundred pounds heavier than her and about three feet taller. She stayed firmly rooted her in spot as the dwarves bustled about around her, some going in the cave, some choosing to fire random questions at her to make her feel more at home. She looked down at her comically large feet, making a mental note to not even acknowledge the place she had been held captive until she felt someone come stomping up to her, drawing her attention away from the ground.

"There were some odd looking clothes in the cave, we thought they might be yours." It was Ori who stood before her timidly, holding out her under pants and thick shirt.

She immediately grabbed them, offering him a small smile in thanks before she realized something altogether sad and alarming.

Her boots were still in the cave. The boots that her mother had given her were still in the dank cave. Considering she wasn't about to just leave them in there, she closed her eyes warily for a moment before she set off determinately towards the entrance of the cave.

She felt her entire body shaking as she made her way closer and closer. She imagined this was PTSD felt like. Her palms were sweating, as well as her neck and lower back. Her legs felt like jelly and her arms were about as strong as a pair of wet noodles. All and all she felt about as strong and mentally able as a baby penguin.

She wasn't about to leave her mother's boots in the cave, however, so she trudged on, slipping slightly on the many layers of stockings that covered her feet until she made it to the entrance of the cave.

It was just as dark and depressing as she remembered; just as scary as she had dreamt it to be. The chains were still attached to the walls where she had been kept. She could see dent in the pile of refuse her body had made, making her stomach churn. She could see where she had wet herself multiple times judging by the stains on the floor. She could smell the same rancid smell she had been bathed in for days washing over her as she shakily made her way into the cave.

She had made it past where the three trolls had slept when she finally started to panic.

Emelia could just see them lying there, laughing at her as she cried or soiled herself. She could just see them stripping her down to noting, leaving her curled up in shame and fear.

The entire place made her stomach bubble with shame.

She did her best to keep moving towards the small pile she knew her boots would be in.

Thorin, as well as Gandalf, Bofur, Nori, Gloin, and Dwalin watched her as she went, eyes following her with raised eyebrows. It seemed she was not only surprising herself.

She stumbled only twice, whether from and obstacle or from panic inspire fatigue, until she made it to the pile of clothes and supplies. She bent down low, ignoring the shaking in her body and picked her way through the stuff until she came upon her blood soiled boots.

She did not waste any time in getting out of the cave as soon as she had her boots. She held them tightly to her chest, squeezing them for dear life as she sprinted back to the entrance, only loosening her grip once she was sure that both she and they were safe and free from the stifling air in the cave.

Emelia wouldn't admit it to anyone, but she was quite sure she would never part herself from those boots. They, in addition to her under layer of clothes, were all she had left of home. She wasn't about to let them escape her. She had rescued them, unlike she had been able to do for herself, and for that, they would never be out of her grasp if she could help it.

They were a victory in a sea of failures for her, and she wasn't about to let them slip out of her grasp so easily and quickly.


	9. Troll Truffles

All of the adrenaline that Emelia had felt coursing through her from her trip into the cave dissipated so quickly and so thoroughly as soon as she was out and in the fresh air, she felt more drained and wary than before she had gone in. She looked around at the group of dwarves in the clearing, still clutching her boots to her chest, trying to decided how exactly to occupy her time. From what she had seen of the dwarves in the cave, they were fascinated and enthralled by treasure, giving her ample time while they explored the contents in the troll horde to occupy herself.

She had gotten what she needed out of the troll cave. She would not even venture back in there if she was being held at gunpoint. She was done with that cave for good.

The first thing she wanted to do was change out of Ori's clothes. He liked knitted things too much for her liking, leaving her itchy and red all over from the mixture of sweat and the less than ideal fabric.

The second thing she wanted to do was to give every dwarf back his stockings. She did not like the bloated, thick feeling her feet had taken on and was more than eager to rectify it as soon as possible.

The third thing she wanted to do was to find something to eat. The bread that Bombur had so kindly given her had long ago disappeared from her system, leaving her stomach growling loudly and uncomfortably.

Emelia immediately set to work on her first task. She glanced around at all of the dwarves, making sure that none of them were looking before she dropped herself down behind one of thicker bushes. She immediately started the process by peeling off the multiple layers of socks, making sure to keep them mated, before setting them carefully onto the forest floor. She moved to Ori's massively huge pants next. She imagined he wouldn't want them back, considering she had worn them without her underwear, but she folded them up neatly after she slipped them off all the same.

She looked down at her legs, feeling her chest clench up slightly at the grotesque sight. She had never been hurt as bad as she had been by the trolls, leaving her with the question of if her legs and the rest of her body would ever look normal again. Her mother would have been appalled at the sight of her pale legs at the moment. Her father probably would have hit something. Eddy probably would have poked them, a sly little grin plastered onto his freckly face.

Emelia shook her head, forcing her thoughts away from her family as she pulled on her thick black leggings, hissing slightly as her finger scrapped against a raw part of her leg, before she sat down onto the forest floor completely.

She missed them too much to even fathom. They were probably planning her funeral, having given up hope that she would emerge from her watery grave. Her mother would be crying, making her slender face puffy and red. She imagined her making soup every night, just to convince herself that Emelia was coming back. She would go to bed every single night crying, begging and pleading, just hoping to wake up and see Emelia drooling on her pillow and demanding five more minutes of sleep.

Her father, bless him, would have been left with Hannah. He would have to deal with her crying and sobbing. He would have to deal with all of the stares around town that his wife was too sad to notice. He would have to deal with a moody and emotional son. He would have to be the one to plan the funeral that his wife couldn't bring herself to even imagine.

Emelia pulled her knees to her chest, trying to stifle her morbid and depressing thoughts. Thinking about her family only made her situation worse. She wanted to go home, and she had come to the sad realization that that wasn't exactly possible.

The only people she had met were dwarves who had never even heard of Alaska. What hope did she have for finding a way home if she wasn't even sure there was still a home left?

She clenched her hands up for a moment before she moved her hands to paw at Ori's shirt until she felt it slide up over her head. She was thankful for the fact that she still had her bra. Her mother would have been mortified to think about her flitting about with a group of strange men without a bra or underwear. Of course, she would probably be even more appalled at the thought of dwarves; considering some of them were only chest height after all.

She quickly discarded the woolen shirt before slipping on the soft cotton shirt she had been wearing when she had fallen through the ice over her head.

The familiarity of the fabric brought a reluctant smile to her face as she hauled herself up into a standing position, scooping up her boots and the numerous pairs of socks into her now bright blue clad arms.

She did not miss the mutters amongst the company of dwarves that followed her whenever she emerged from the bushes. Their eyes followed her as she went about to each dwarf, trying her best to remember which socks belonged to them, before moving onto the next.

"Lassie, what in the name of Durin are you wearing?" A voice called out to her as she moved towards Bifur to hand him his less than clean socks. She did her best to avoid staring at the axe head imbedding into his skull. She imagined he didn't like people staring at it. He glanced up at her briefly, offering her a stoic expression, before turning his attention back to Kili, who was currently trying his best to understand what the old dwarf was gesturing wildly about. He shoved a rusty shovel at Kili, looking as if it was very important, before he ripped off his boots to slip on the socks Emelia had just returned to him over his other ones.

Emelia shook her head. Bifur was certainly an odd one.

"Clothes." She said simply, not bothering to look around.

Kili looked at her with an even look on his face as she sorted through the numerous pairs of socks on her hands. He didn't miss the proud smile that ghosted across her features when she found his deep blue stockings without prompting. She shoved them into his hands with a quick hand before moving on towards the next dwarf, not even bothering to look him in the eyes. While it did not bother him, he did have to admit he had brought that sort of cold reaction on himself.

"We can all see that." Dwalin said dryly. "They don't, however, look like the most appropriate clothes to be trekking about in the wilderness in."

She looked down at her outfit, a slight blush peppering her face ever so slightly for a moment before she shook her head. Kili could see her shoulders rolling out of annoyance underneath the obnoxiously colored blue shirt she wore as she moved toward Ori. "I didn't plan on going trekking through the wilderness when I got out of my comfy bed four days ago."

Kili had to agree with Dwalin about her choice in attire. She was wearing black leggings that appeared like they went underneath more sturdy pants and were not meant to be worn as the only layer. They were a bit too tight and form fitting to be considered proper for a woman to be wearing without something over them. The shirt, while slightly looser than her pants, wasn't much better. It clung to her body in the ways that the clothes the women in brothels wore. He could see every inch of her outline as she moved throughout the small clearing. And he was certain he wasn't the only one who had noticed.

He didn't miss the way Ori made even less eye contact with her, if that was possible, and he didn't miss the flirtatious smirk Fili shot at her whenever she playfully threw his bright red socks at him.

"What exactly were you planning on doing when she woke up lassie?" Dwalin pushed, voicing every member of the company's curiosity. Kili looked over at her, despite his mental promise to ignore her completely.

Emelia looked up from giving Ori his clothes and socks, turning around to face the dwarf who had spoken to her. Dwalin was staring her down with his massive arms cross over his chest, waiting for her to answer his question with an expectant look on his face. Thorin was still in the cave with Gandalf, giving the most intimidating member of their company time to interrogate the woman about why exactly she was there and where she came from. Kili glanced around at the rest of them company, taking note of the fact that they moved closer to her in an attempt to fulfill their curiosity about her.

"I was planning on going fishing with my family." She said simply, sitting herself down onto one of the rocks, pulling her boots onto her dirty feet with a little more force than Kili imagined was necessary. "What were you planning on doing?"

Dwalin clenched his hands slightly at the tone of her voice.

"That is none of your concern, miss." He said slowly, warning lacing every word he spoke.

"Then what I was doing and am currently doing is none of yours."

Kili had seen men twice Emelia's size cower in fear in front of Dwalin. He had to admit that she had spunk, talking back to the tattooed member of their company like she had. She was so tiny and unintimidating making it almost impossible for Kili to take her seriously as she attempted to appear smart and brave in front of him. Almost. He could feel a begrudging respect begin to creep into his mind as he saw her stand up and move towards Balin and Fili, completely oblivious to the murderous look on Dwalin's face.

That is, until she turned around.

"I'm sorry." She looked embarrassingly sheepish as she backtracked from her words almost instantly. "I just don't want to talk about it."

Dwalin took two large steps towards her, making her step back slightly in her spot. "Why are you here? Why were you anywhere where trolls could nab you? Where are you from?"

She looked slightly alarmed as Dwalin fired rapid questions at her, making her shrink in on herself. It seemed, to Kili, that she wasn't capable of any sort of lasting bravery. Just sparks of quick wit before she retreated in on herself, becoming nothing more than a blubbering, crying mess that required constant attention and watching.

Emelia did not like where this conversation was going. She had just done this with Thorin not an hour before and she was still trying to wrap her mind around it. She couldn't exactly tell them about Alaska, considering the reaction she got the last time she did. She wished, more than anything, that the topic of her home would just disappear. She was stuck with these dwarves, she gathered, and wanted nothing more than for them to be able to talk to her without immediately throwing paranoid accusations about. She wanted the conversation to be done with. She didn't know why she was there, and unless some sort of message appeared out of thin air, they wouldn't either if she told them the truth.

"The trolls grabbed me from the river I had fallen into." She said simply, wishing more than anything that Dwalin would uncross his arms. She wasn't exactly fond of how big his muscles were. "And about where I'm from, you wouldn't believe me."

"Can were trust you?"

Every dwarf looked over at her, eyebrows raised as they waited for her reply. She nodded slowly. She knew she should be asking them that question, but she didn't bother. She imagined they would scoff at the accusation. They had been offended by just about everything else she had said, and that would probably be the worst.

"Look, I don't know why I am here and I don't know how," She paused, scuffing her thick boots on the forest floor. "But I have come to the very depressing conclusion that I'm not making any of this up in my head. I'm awake, this is real, and you all are very real. I fell into a river and ended up with some trolls. They kept me for four days and then you came along. You are the only good thing, relatively speaking, that has happened." She paused looking down at her boots, an embarrassed redness creeping across her face. "I am alone and as much as it weirds me out to say, I need you all. I would be troll truffle by this point without you so I'm not about to go and push you off a cliff or something. I don't have a phone, or a map, or any way of contacting anyone I know. I don't want to be here just as much as you don't want me here," None of the dwarves missed the derisive look she shot at Kili. "And I know that that isn't likely to change anytime soon. I suppose the reason to all of this rambling is simple. You can trust me because I have to trust you."

When she stopped speaking all of the dwarves simply looked at her. Dwalin surveyed her for a moment, taking in her answer. She spoke of things that none of them knew anything about and she was alarmingly casual in her way of speaking, but other than that none of them sensed any form of malcontent or deception. Of course, that didn't mean they were about to tell her about their quest for Erebor. It was awkwardly silent for what felt like ages before Bofur finally had to guts to speak up.

"I think that settles that. Lassie, why don't you come and get a cloak to cover your shoulders with, you'll catch a cold in so little." She looked slightly alarmed for the briefest of moments before allowed him to pull her over to where he kept his spare cloak. He slipped it over her shoulders with ease, before giving her a cheeky smile.

Emelia felt better. Much better than she ever thought she would. She did not like the way the dwarves had been regarding her. She felt more like herself, in her clothes and boots. She felt like the old Emelia, despite the fact she was miles and miles away from home. Her clothes still smelled like her home, underneath the ghosting smell of troll. The dwarves weren't going to kill her for thought of her being a traitor. She wasn't covered in filth. She was herself. And that made her smile to herself for the first time in days.

"That was a wonderful speech Emelia." Fili called from his spot next to Ori, a sly smirk on his face. "Really moving. I think I saw Ori here wiping away tears at the middle."

"I was not." Ori cried out, avoiding eye contact with Emelia.

Kili couldn't help but roll his eyes. He really wondered sometimes how he was still considered the youngest and least mature with bumbling, blushing Ori with them.

"If Ori was tearing up, then you must have been crying." She shot back, an almost full smile on her face. All of the dwarves seemed slightly surprised to see her almost smiling. They had yet to see her show any emotion besides panic and fear in the time short time that they had known her.

"I would never cry in the presence of a lady." Fili said, sitting himself down on a rock.

"It is manly to cry Fili, surely you would know that by now. It is how I woo all of those dwarf women back in the Blue Mountains. Shed a few and the women come flocking." Nori said loudly, earning a shove from Bombur on his left.

"By women, you mean the old bitter ones that somehow, despite the lack of available dwarf women, managed not to find a husband." Fili said, stroking his braided mustache good naturedly.

"I am sure my crying would impress you, Miss Emelia." Nori said simply, crossing his arms over his chest.

Emelia looked up from messing with Bofur's cloak, a full smile now gracing her pale face. "I bet Nori."

"In that case, then I will shed a thousand tears." Fili said, earning an even broader smile from the young woman.

"I didn't say your tears would impress me."

Kili had to admit, despite himself, he found her to be entertaining when she wasn't cracking his nose or running away from him. It was not often that someone would talk to his brother in a way that got him to step back and think for a moment. Most dwarf women couldn't even manage to hold a conversation with Fili without becoming a blushing, bumbling mess. Emelia didn't even seem to notice his brothers horribly veiled attempts at flirting. Or if she noticed, she just didn't care. For some reason, that brought a large amount of secret joy to Kili. That didn't mean he didn't still dislike her, however funny and unimpressed by his brother she was. Emelia Montgomery was still an undeniable distraction that Kili wasn't sure how to deal with.

He did his best to be subtle about his observing's of her as she joked around with the company of dwarves. She was still guarded, but it was only noticeable when she wasn't speaking. She avoided eye contact with Dwalin and Bifur, which Kili did not fault her for, and stayed close to Balin whenever she could, but other than that, she looked much less alarmed than she had over the past day. She still ran her hands over her wrists, and favored her shoulder whenever no one was really looking at her, but she no longer clutched her cloak so tightly around her shoulders it looked like she would suffocate herself.

She looked much the same as she did when they had first come across her. Her red hair, which Kili found to be slightly obnoxious, still curled wildly down her back, and her green eyes still calculated and took in everything around her. She was still small and slight. She was still everything that she was then, but for some reason, she seemed different to Kili.

He wasn't sure if it was because she was slowly, and annoyingly, chipping away at him and earning his begrudging respect, or if it was because he could no longer feel the pain in his nose.

He hadn't been realizing he had been staring at her until she was directly in front of him, looking awkward.

"I'm sorry about your nose." She said simply, sitting herself down next to him. "I was kind of reflex."

He could feel the eyes of the rest of the company on him as she spoke to him. It seemed during his watching of her, he had missed something. He could see Fili smirking at him, and Balin smiling at the woman, and Bofur laughing with Bombur as they spoke conspiratorially between the two of them. All in all, he did not like the looks he was getting in the slightest.

"Did I miss something?"

She shook her head simply. "No, but I figured we should start out fresh, considering I was kind of a menace when we first met."

"Fili made you."

He did not miss the blush that spread across her cheeks when he said that. It seemed like she was always blushing. She scrunched up her face for a moment before she spoke softly, leaning towards him slightly. "Of course he did. You were downright nasty to me. Why would I want to apologize?"

"Because it is the decent thing to do." Kili said simply.

"Then why don't you give me a lesson in decency and apologize to me?" She leaned back, flipping her hair over her shoulder.

"I have nothing to apologize for." Kili said simply. In truth, he probably should have apologized to be polite, but he was his Uncle's nephew and he couldn't really bring himself to do it.

"Fili said you would be stubborn." Emelia did not look annoyed, much as he would expect her to appear.

Kili looked over at her, not entirely fond of how close she was. He could see her freckles. He would have much preferred her to be far away from him, or not in their company at all. But then again, that seemed less and less likely to happen with each passing moment. Her hands were on her hips, revealing her inappropriate attire once again, making Kili roll his eyes. She was going to be the death of the company with her silliness and ineptitude.

"Look Kili, I'm sorry I hit you. I panicked and it just happened."

She was blushing again. She blushed too much.

He opened his mouth to respond, only to be cut off by a loud shout coming from behind Emelia.

He didn't know why he did it, nor would he ever admit he had, but he grabbed her and pushed her behind him, before pulling out his bow and arrow in a quick movement. He pushed her back farther as the noise got closer and closer to them before a large figure crashed into the clearing that they were in. He could feel her slipping back farther from him as the figure rounded on the company of dwarves, forcing him to step back with her in order to keep her shielded.

Kili was quite sure Fili would be having a field day if he could see him, which only served to make the already guarded and moody dwarf even moodier.


	10. Of Pictures and Ponies

Emelia had, by this point, long ago given up on trying to predict the things that were going to happen to her in the warm world that she found herself in. She hadn't predicted trolls, and they ended up popping up out of nowhere and holding her hostage for four days. She hadn't predicted the dwarves, and they ended up appearing out of thin air and dragging her along with them in the direction of who knows where. And finally, she hadn't predicted a man covered in bird feces to come crashing through the trees being pulled by a rabbit sled, yet there he was yelling nonsensical things from his perch on his sled.

When she had first heard the cracking and rustling of the trees she had involuntarily panicked. Thus far, nothing had really gone her way, leaving her with an undeniable, almost constant nervousness about what was to come. She felt as if something bad was just waiting for her, lurking behind her. While she liked the majority of the dwarves that she found herself in the company of, they still made her wary. She always felt on edge around them whenever she spoke, due in no small part to the fact that it seemed as if every other word out of the mouth offended the band of burly men. She had not expected herself to be comfortable with them for quite a while. It had taken her eighteen solid years to be completely comfortable with her own family and they were related to her. She knew it would take her more than just a day to be comfortable with the group of dwarves, no matter how hospitable they were.

That being said, her discomfort around the dwarves didn't stop her from gripping onto Kili for dear life when the brown clad man came crashing through the tree line.

She would deny it later, but she couldn't really help the knee jerk reaction of grabbing onto the nearest thing that possessed a weapon. It just so happened that that nearest thing was the one dwarf who would probably throw her towards whatever was coming out of spite. She liked to think she was brave enough to not cower, but it was apparent by her reaction that it was just not the case with her.

Emelia felt her heart going a mile a minute as she backed further and further away from the man on the sled. Kili, much to her great shock, moved back with her, keeping his back pressed into her front slightly, shielding her from whatever was in front of them. She normally would've minded being backed into a tress, but for some reason she paid no mind.

"Thieves! Liars! Murderers!"

She peeked out from behind Kili, smiling despite herself at the sight of the rabbits the man was using to pull his sleigh skidding to a halt next to her feet. The smile quickly faded from her face as she looked at the rabbits up close. They were larger than any rabbits she had ever seen. They, when standing at full height, came up to well above her knee without their ears up. Their feet were larger than her own and their eyes were roughly the size of a small child's fist.

It seemed that nothing, not even the rabbits, were normal in the world she was stuck in.

"Radagast the Brown, why on earth are you here?" It was Gandalf who spoke, sheathing his sword as he walked over towards the twitchy man on the sled. All of the dwarves looked around at each other skeptically before following suite.

As much as Emelia was weary of a man who allowed bird feces to trill down his face, she stepped out hesitantly from behind Kili, all too willing to get away from the stubborn dwarf. She was not exactly thrilled with herself and the way she had clung to him like a frightened child.

The man looked around at them all, his long brown hair swinging about him wildly, before he finally addressed Gandalf with fast, muddled words.

"I was looking for you, Gandalf." Radagast's voice was burdened by the odd combination of being rushed and saddled with a lisp, making his voice match his overall batty appearance fabulously. "Something's wrong. Something is so terribly wrong."

Radagast was out of breath as he spoke to Gandalf, leaning heavily on the staff that he carried with him. Gandalf moved towards Radagast, his eyes narrowed as he observed the man with a cautious and wary expression on his old face. "Yes?"

The man opened his mouth to speak, only to close it again, looking around the clearing in confusion. He eyed each of the dwarves, as if they knew the words he was searching for, before his gaze finally settled on Emelia. He looked at her for a moment, taking in her odd attire and startled expression before he was prodded into speaking again by a urgent sounding Gandalf.

"Radagast."

The man looked back over at Gandalf, shaking his head seemingly out of frustration. "Oh I had a thought." He sounded very similar to a whining child as he spoke. "And now I've lost it. It's right there, right on the tip of my tongue. It was such a good thought…" He trailed off, opening his mouth. He gestured wildly with his hands towards his open mouth, frustration clearly shinning in his bright blue eyes. Gandalf leaned towards him, eyes narrowing even further as he looked into Radagast's open mouth.

"It is right on the tip of my tongue." Radagast sounded downright annoyed for a moment before he his eyes lit up. "Oh, it's not a thought at all."

To Emelia's utter disgust and horror, Gandalf reached into Radagast's mouth, pulling out a long, spindly looking stick bug. Gandalf lifted the insect up until it was in front of his face, before dropping it into Radagast's outstretched hand.

"That's disgusting." Emelia said before she had even realized she opened her mouth.

The only person who seemed to hear her was Kili. He turned to look at her, a large smirk dancing across his dark face. He smiled at her briefly before he realized that it was, in fact, her that he was smiling at. He immediately looked away from her, rolling his shoulders slightly in frustration. Emelia had to fight the urge to smack him upside the head, just to see his expression. It wasn't as if he didn't deserve it. She had tried to apologize, and all he had done was say he had nothing to apologize for in return. The bastard deserved a good smack.

"Come with me Radagast." Gandalf said simply leading him away and out of earshot of the rest of the people watching the brown clad man with confused expressions. Radagast hobbled away with him, whispering something to his rabbits as he went before the two of them disappeared from earshot entirely. The group was silent for a moment, eyes all trained onto the direction that the two had gone before Thorin finally broke the uncomfortable silence by calling for Balin and Dwalin to come join him, leaving the rest of the dwarves, Emelia and Bilbo to entertain themselves while the two older men talked.

Emelia looked around awkwardly for a moment, before her eyes settled on Fili and Ori, laughing together lightly as they leaned against one of many trees in the clearing. She made her way over to them, shooting Kili a dark parting look, before she sat herself down on the grass next to them.

"I dislike your brother Fili." She said simply, causing the blonde dwarf to smirk.

"How do you know he is my brother?" Fili asked, settling himself down on the grass next to her, only to have Ori follow tentatively on her other side.

"While I understand why you wouldn't want to claim him as a blood relation, it doesn't take a genius to pick up on the naming trend you have going on around here. Plus, you already told me."

Fili laughed at her words loudly, causing a few of the older dwarves to look over at them. "He is acting rather odd."

"I think by odd you mean foul and nasty." Ori piped up, earning an appreciative smile from Emelia.

"Ori gets it." She said simply, causing Ori to blush slightly at her words. He chanced a glance up at her, before turning his attention back down to the large book he held in his gloved hands. "You get it Ori."

"Maybe you intimidate him." Fili said offhandedly, earning unladylike snort from Emelia.

"Maybe he's just an ass."

"That's a little harsh, don't you think?" Fili asked, trying to defend his brother.

In all honesty, he wasn't exactly sure why the two of them had taken such a disliking to each other so early on. From the little he knew of Emelia, her and Kili would get along better than she got along with even himself. Of course, that would be if they could speak to each other without lobbing insults or dirty looks every opportunity they got. Fili actually quite enjoyed the insults that Emelia whispered darkly under her breath about his brother for the simple fact that it gave him a glimpse of the fiery personality that he was sure was just waiting to come springing out.

"He did jump in front of you at the first sign of danger, after all." Fili couldn't help but smirk at the blush that inflamed across her pale cheeks.

"Saw that did you?"

"That and you holding onto him for dear life." Ori finished, not looking up from his book that he was now scribbling furiously in.

"We all saw that part, actually." Fili had to fight the full out laughter at the annoyed look on her face. "It was so," He paused, lifting his hand up to stroked his braided mustache. "What's the word I'm looking for, Ori?"

"Romantic, endearing, and sweet." Ori said. Emelia was honestly surprised he was playing along with Fili. He seemed far too shy, on the surface, to ever think about teasing someone he hardly knew. Or at least that's what she thought.

"How poetic, Ori." Fili was now struggling to hold back his laughter at the sour look on Emelia's face.

Emelia looked around the clearing, struggling to keep the blush off her face all while trying to find something to change the subject. She had had enough of discussing Kili. She didn't like to talk to him, and she enjoyed talking about him substantially less. She had only attempted to apologize because Fili had practically begged her. She swore to herself that she wouldn't ever make that mistake again. No amount of begging on the blonde dwarfs part could ever get her to stoop so low again as to apologizing to the brick wall that was Kili.

She looked around until her eyes settled on the picture that Ori was furiously scribbling down, adding in little words and phrases to the side. His hand was covered in black ink from his quill, indicating that he did this sort of thing more often than Emelia would have guessed. Seeing him working so intently on something so artsy made her chest feel slightly lighter than it had in the last couple of days. People drew all the time back in Alaska.

"What are you working on, Ori?" She scooted closer to him, leaning over to peer down at the drawing in his book. It was actually quite beautiful to look at, with its intricate detail and accurate shading. It was only when she was close enough to look at it, did she recognize that it was the clearing they were sitting in.

He looked up at her to answer, only to jump slightly at how close she was, a blush sweeping across his face. Emelia couldn't help but feel slightly flattered that he still blushed around her, despite having seen her covered in her own refuse and troll gunk. She had imagined it would be hard for any of them to see her as anything but that. It would have been hard for her, if their roles had been reversed.

"It's a chronicle of our journey." He said, stuttering for a moment as he got used to her sitting so close to him. He glanced over at Fili for a moment before continuing. "I like to write everything down; so that when we reclaim Erebor everyone will know the whole story from top to bottom."

Emelia barely had time to smile before all of the dwarves were shouting things in a language she didn't understand at the very confused Ori. Thorin came thundering over from his spot with Dwalin and Balin, face red with anger. It seemed that Ori had told her something that she wasn't exactly meant to hear. Oin and Gloin were conversing quietly with each other, shooting dark looks at the now shaking Ori as he stood up quickly to face the now furious leader of their company. Kili made his way over to Fili, eyes darting back and forth between Emelia and Ori. Everyone looked so angry by his simple statement and it baffled Emelia. In fact it baffled her so much that she spoke even before Thorin had time to tear into Ori, which it looked like he was gearing up to do with every step he took.

"What's going on?" She asked, feeling slightly bad that Ori was now facing the entire wrath of the company for her question.

Thorin didn't even look at her, choosing instead to grab Ori by the collar. "What all did you tell her?"

Emelia was quite sure if she had been in Ori's place, she would have peed herself all over again. Ori seemed at a loss for words as he was held by a very angry Thorin. Emelia didn't blame him. Thorin's glare could curdle milk if he tried hard enough.

"What did you tell her?" Thorin repeated his question again, his voice much lower and lethal sounding.

"He said something about Arbor, or whatever…" Emelia said in an attempt to get Thorin to let go of the now shaking Ori.

Thorin looked like he was about to murder something. He held him for a moment longer before releasing him roughly, clenching his hands up in fists. Emelia thought for a moment that he was going to hit Ori, until he brought one of his hands up to his own face and rubbed his nose, breathing heavily out of anger.

"I-it just slipped out." Ori said weakly, cowering under the gazes of all of the dwarves. "I didn't mean to. She was just asking me about my book and it just slipped out…" He trailed off quietly.

"How foolish can you be Ori?" Dwalin snapped.

"Okay, what is going on?" Emelia asked, entirely tired of her questions being ignored.

"Silence." Thorin snapped over to her, causing her to snap her mouth shut so quickly it made a pop. "You will hold your tongue for the foreseeable future, Miss Montgomery. You have now caused this company even more trouble than you are worth and I will not hear any more of your incessant and useless blathering."

That shut her up. She shook her head weakly at the look she was getting from Thorin. It made her feel like a child, worse than a child. She pulled her arms around her chest, nodding her head blearily. All of the dwarves were looking over at her with alarmed expressions. Even Fili looked at her differently. Balin wasn't smiling at her like he normally was. Kili was now looking at her like she was the worst thing he had ever laid eyes on. Ori was looking at her with an almost apology on his face. The only person who looked just as confused was Bilbo. But even he was avoiding making eye contact with her.

Thorin glared at her for a moment longer, before he turned to address Fili with a very angry look on his face.

"You will make sure she is ready to travel with us, with thanks given to Ori, and prepared for the long journey. She will not be a burden. See to it that she has a weapon that she won't maim herself or others with." With those final words he marched away, followed closely by an angry looking Dwalin and a concerned looking Balin. The rest of the dwarves were silent for a moment before slowly returning back to the spots they came from, leaving Emelia, Ori, Fili and Kili, reaming in a little circle. Emelia took in each of their defeated expressions for a moment before she braved a question. Her voice came out as an almost whisper in a desperate attempt to not be overheard by Thorin.

"What's going on?

Fili couldn't even bring himself to smile at her. "You have…."

He was cut off by a very loud, and alarmingly deep, howl coming from behind Kili and himself. Everyone immediately straightened up, looking around them for any sign of the creature.

"Was that a wolf?" It was Bilbo who spoke first, thankfully voicing Emelia's own concerns. "Are there wolves out there?"

"Wolves?" Bofur came from out of nowhere, holding his axe up slightly as he looked around. "That was no wolf."

Just as he spoke a growl echoed around the clearing briefly before a huge creature that was anything but a wolf came leaping at them. If Emelia hadn't been so shocked she would have screamed. It leapt, faster than Emelia would have thought possible, down at them, its massive claws flexing and shinning in the sunlight filtering through the trees. Thorin, who was the closest, immediately swung his sword towards the creature catching it in the face and sending it to the floor in a tangled head. Kili followed suit with an arrow in between its eyes, silencing the whimpering creature instantly.

Emelia just sat there, not even remembering when Fili had pushed her back, standing in front of her. He looked down at her apologetically, offering her a hand to help her up. "We should probably get you what weapon now, Miss Emmy."

She didn't even notice the nickname. She nodded blearily, eyes fixed on the now bleeding creature.

"A warg scout," Thorin snapped to the group, looking around above him for signs of any more. "Which means an orc pack isn't far behind."

"Orc pack…" Bilbo sounded just as panicked as Emelia felt.

It was in that moment that Gandalf and Radagast came storming back into the clearing, anger written on the formers face. He thundered right up to Thorin bearing down on him, gripping his staff so tightly his wrinkly hands were as white as a sheet of paper. "Who did you tell?"

"No one."

Thorin had the audacity to look over at Emelia briefly, which caused not only her, but Fili to tense up slightly at the implication. She didn't know what an orc was, but she did know that she only knew the dwarves, and even if she knew someone else, she wasn't likely to go jabbering to them about Arbor, or whatever it was called.

"Who else did you tell?" Gandalf asked again, much louder the second time.

"No one! What in Durin's name is going on?"

"You are being hunted, Thorin Oakenshield."

Emelia knew something was wrong when Gandalf looked panicked. She knew something was wrong when she felt Fili wrap a hand around her arm, pulling her slightly closer to him. She knew something was wrong when she heard more howls.

"We must leave." Dwalin said loudly and urgently.

"How? All of the damn ponies bolted when they heard the howl." Nori said to the entire group.

To everyone's great surprise it was Radagast who offered the only solution. "I will draw them off."

"These are Gundabad Wargs," He sounded impatient and strapped for a solution. "They will outrun you in a matter of moments."

Radagast looked affronted as he stood up straighter. "And these are Rhosgobel rabbits. I'd like to see them try."

With those final words he jumped on his sleigh and sped off into the trees, speaking rapidly to his rabbits. Apparently, big rabbits were badass rabbits. Emelia watched him leave until she felt a very strong tug on her arm, jerking her into a run. Fili looked down at her, keeping a hand firmly on her arm. He reached into his cloak with his other, roughly digging around before he pulled out a very large looking knife and shoving it into her other hand.

"Try not to hurt yourself or others with this." He said simply, pulling her into an even faster run, ignoring the incredulous look on her face.

* * *

"Gimli, I do believe it is time for me to take over."

Gimli immediately stopped, looking up from the grassy field he found himself in with Wenny. Thranduil had insisted if she was going to spend all her time learning dwarf tales, she should at least do it outside, as opposed to cooped up in the palace. Wenny had been delighted, of course, and had taken to rolling around on the grass as Gimli spoke to her in low voices.

He smiled at the elf woman who was standing above him, a small hand placed on his shoulder. Alunim, wife of Legolas and mother of Liluwen, hadn't changed substantially in the time that Gimli had known her. She was smiling down at him mischievously, just like she had when she had first approached him sitting on the rocks during their own quest not so long ago. Her long, wavy, blonde hair was pulled back from her freckly face and she was wearing her most casual dress, not looking at all like the future queen she was going to be.

"After all, I am in this part." She sat herself down next to Gimli, placing a soft kiss on his cheek, before she turned to Wenny. "Wenny, you have monopolized my dear friend."

Wenny blushed slightly as her mother spoke to her, sitting up from rolling around in the grass to look at the older woman fully. Alunim shoot a conspiratorial smirk over to Gimli before she gestured for her daughter to come closer to the two of them. "You leave me with no choice but to join to two of you."

"Naneth, you wouldn't like the story Gimli is telling me." Wenny said, sitting herself down on her mother's lap, throwing her long blonde hair over her shoulder and out of the way. "It just about dwarves."

"Just dwarves?" Gimli huffed slightly at the mistake in wording. "You seem to quite fascinated by just dwarves little Wenny, if I remember correctly from the last couple of days."

"You know what I mean." Wenny said, blushing even more.

Alunim looked between them for a moment before she spoke. "Wenny, I love the story you are hearing about." She paused, pulling her daughter even closer. "In fact, I am in it. I met Emelia, and her hairy friends. They were quite delightful, and so very dwarven. Would you like to hear about it?"

"Only if you're not lying Naneth."

"Why would I lie to you, little tree?" Alunim asked simply, situating herself to make the two of them more comfortable. "Now where was our little red headed human? Ah yes, the orcs…"


	11. Kibbles and Bits

Emelia wished, looking back on it, that she had spent more of her time doing physical activity when she had been home. She had developed nice arm muscles and a strong core from all her time spent on fishing boats and frozen lakes. However, a strong core and well-muscled arms didn't really help her with the amount of running she was currently being forced to do. She was ashamed to admit, but as she was running she felt like she was eighty five, as opposed to eighteen. It was all wheezing and huffing like a chain smoker.

It helped matters to have not only Fili literally dragging her along, but a pack of wargs bearing down on her from behind. She wouldn't have been able to keep going otherwise. Of course, she wouldn't have to be running in the first place if it weren't for the back of wargs.

All in all, she would rather be back in the troll cave, much as that made her sick to think about.

Fili, bless him, kept a firm grip on her arm, only releasing it briefly to move his hand down to grip her own hand, squeezing it so tightly she stopped being able to feel her fingers after a short time. She was quite positive that had he not been holding onto her, she would have been chum in a matter of seconds.

The dwarves kept themselves packed tightly together, only thinning out whenever one would dart forward to clear the way in the forest, shouting encouragement to each other and helping some of the older, and fatter dwarves, jump over things. Fili kept Emelia smashed behind him and some other unknown dwarf the entire time that they ran. She had tried to look behind her to see who was pushing her roughly, only to be jerked into a faster sprint by a panicked looking Fili. She had to admit, it made her feel slightly less out of the place to see that they too were panicking. Of course, she was positive that even a full grown, massively huge Greco-Roman wrestler would be panicked and twitchy at the pack behind them.

It did not take the company long to get out of the forest that they had met Radagast in. Normally Emelia would have welcomed a change in scenery, considering all the how unfortunate all her experiences in the forest had been, but upon seeing the massive amount of open plains in front of her, she felt her heart drop even more. There was nowhere to hide out on those plains. The plains only had tall yellow grass and boulders that looked like they were only capable of hiding one or two dwarves, not all thirteen of them, Emelia, Bilbo, and Gandalf. No trees. No caves. No nothing. Just massive open space that would be perfect to get caught in.

She paused, her shoulders subconsciously slumping as she looked at all of the openness in front of them.

"We have to keep moving Emelia." Fili said, pulling her along and out into the large grass in front of them.

She felt a rather rough hand on her back, pushing her faster and causing her to stumble slightly as they sped down the small hill that led into the plains. Her feet slipped on the slick grass, forcing her into Fili's back with a rather loud and ungraceful smack. The dwarf behind her didn't seem to notice, or particularly care, as evidenced by their even rougher shove to keep her moving. The dwarf, who she was now beginning to think was either Thorin or Kili, judging by the roughness of their shoves, didn't once let her stop moving.

Not that she would have wanted to.

The dwarves moved much faster than Emelia would have ever thought possible, judging by their height and overall girth. They ran with all of the speed of a full heighted man, never pausing or stumbling like Emelia seemed to be so fond of doing as she ran along with them. She couldn't help but think that the dwarves would make a rather fabulous football team, with their overall burliness and strength. She immediately chided herself mentally for this. They were being chased by man eating wargs, after all.

The sounds of the wargs bounced all around them, filling them up with even more panic. It sounded like they were getting closer. The dwarves glanced over their burly shoulders, sweat dripping down their faces and into their beards from the sudden appearance of intense sunshine from the lack of tree cover. They hissed things to each other, some words of encouragement, some colorful curses, and some well-placed and worded phrases of hate towards the warg.

The howls and sounds of paws scrapping against the grassy ground filled up Emelia's ears and chest as she ran. For the first time in their little track meet, she gripped onto Fili's hand, causing him to look over his shoulder at her in surprise for the briefest of moments.

The farther and farther they got away from the forest, the more Emelia realized that her first assessment of plains was entirely wrong. The boulders were, thankfully, much bigger than she had originally anticipated. When they finally reached them, Fili practically threw her against the rocks, crushing her sore body against the rough surface with his back. Her hand squeezed his even tighter as they listened to the noises of the warg pack. All of the dwarves glanced around at each other, fear written all over their sweat dirt covered faces. Even Thorin looked afraid from what Emelia could see from behind Fili and his massive amount of blonde hair.

It was the massive amount of blonde hair that kept her from seeing Radagast go speeding past them on his rabbit drawn sleigh, shouting things that Emelia was sure weren't even real insults, more just a babbling slew of words and odd sounds.

In fact, the only thing she saw for quite some time was Fili's blonde hair. He kept her pushed so far into the rock, she couldn't even manage to peek out over his shoulder until the company began to move again.

They dodged and weaved through the tall grass, stopping occasionally to allow Gandalf and Thorin to clear them to move on before they sprinted off again. It felt like they did this for a hundred years before they finally came to stop behind a boulder that was large enough to hide them all completely from the other side. Fili pushed her against the rock, like he had every other time, choosing instead to keep to just have an arm thrown haphazardly over the top of her chest, as opposed to using himself as a human, or dwarf, shield.

She was just beginning to think that the wargs had moved on, which was altogether foolish, when she heard the rocks above her head shifting slightly.

Every single dwarf around her pulled out their weapons, entire bodies tensed as they looked back and forth between each other.

Emelia gripped the knife Fili had given her, feeling very much like a small child using a butter knife for the first time, as she breathed heavier and heavier.

She was quite sure she would end up hurting herself before she managed to do any lasting damage to a warg, whatever the hell they were.

She pressed herself even further into the rock, trying to steady her breathing when she heard the rocks shift even more, sending the smaller ones pouring down over them. Emelia leaned back even further when she felt one of them smack her on the top of the head, sending a stinging sensation jolting through her.

Emelia kept her gaze on Fili, who was smashing her into the rock with one arm as he looked up, trying to get a glimpse of the creature coming towards them from above. The dwarves were all tense as Kili stepped out from the rock, bow poised. Emelia barely had time to look before he was firing it at the creature, sending it crashing to the floor directly in front of them. She would have screamed if it weren't for a dirty hand being thrown over her mouth silencing her completely.

The warg, and the thing riding it, were some of the most disgusting things she had seen in her entire life. It was covered in nails and staples in odd places, causing both the warg and its rider to bleed out black blood that congealed and gobbed in the most grotesque way. Perhaps the most disturbing part was the obviously human bones covering the chest and back of the rider. He wore them like a suit of armor, making Emelia's stomach squirm at the thought of who the bones might have belong to.

The warg and its rider squealed and howled as the dwarves made quick work of killing them. The screams reverberated through Emelia's chest, making her squirm underneath the hand over her mouth.

The company, all of whom were appallingly less effected by the dead warg and its rider, immediately began to move once again, faces going paler when they heard the noises from the rest of the pack escalate almost instantly. The howls were almost deafening as they floated down over the now panicked company of dwarves.

"Everybody move!" Gandalf shouted suddenly. "Now!"

All of the dwarves, Bilbo, and finally Emelia, immediately pushed themselves away from the rock. The hand that had covered her mouth, which had incidentally belonged to Bombur, removed itself and moved to the small of her back, pushing her towards Fili who had re-grabbed her trembling hand.

Gandalf was surprisingly spry for such an old man, out running almost all of the dwarves as he led them through the hilly landscape. Emelia imagined he would have been able to outrun them all if he wasn't worried about getting them to safety.

"They're coming this way!" Emelia wasn't sure who had shouted that, considering it had come from behind her, but she was sure she wasn't fond of the panic in their voice.

The riders were getting closer and closer, shouting things at the dwarves in a language that made her entire body feel squirmy and sick.

Fili never let go of her hand as they made their way up a little hill and towards a small outcropping of rocks. She made a mental note to give him the biggest hug if they made it out alive. Of course now that she was able to turn around and look, she was certain she was being faced with being eaten alive. Again.

The wargs were on all sides of them by that point, forcing the dwarves to move in closer and closer. Emelia could see Bilbo shaking with fear, much like she was sure she was. He was holding his little sword out in front of him, rapidly changing his vision from warg to warg.

"There's more coming!" Emelia could have told them that.

There was what felt like hundreds of them bearing down on the dwarves from all sides. She gripped the knife in her hand so tightly her hand turned white. She wasn't sure if her heavy breathing was from running so much or from being terrified. She surmised it was the latter. She felt like she was having a heart attack for the second time in only a couple of days. Fili had moved her behind him, but was standing far enough away that she couldn't reach out to grab him, even if she wanted to.

"Kili! Shoot them!" Emelia knew that angry voice anywhere. Thorin was currently backing away towards the dwarves, sword raised out in front of him in a defensive stance.

She backed away even more, desperately searching for a way for them to get away. There was nothing. They were completely and utterly surrounded on all sides.

"Where's Gandalf?" One of the dwarves called, drawing all their attention to the fact that the tall man in grey was nowhere to be found. Emelia didn't blame him, if he had found a way to disappear. She would have too. Of course, she would have told the rest of them, but that seemed to be beside the point.

"He's abandoned us!" Emelia could see Dwalin out of the corner of her eye, swearing under his breath as he flexed his massive muscles out of anger and adrenaline.

"Stand your ground. Stay focused." Thorin thundered at all of them, making Emelia shudder even more. He was just so damn intimidating all the time.

Emelia pulled Bofur's cloak closer to her with her free hand, feeling her hands slipping over the material from sweat and nervousness. Emelia wished that Fili could have been closer to her. She felt like she was on a mini island, facing all of the wargs on her own, as preposterous as it sounded to even herself.

"This way, you fools!" Emelia jumped at the sound of Gandalf's voice. All of the dwarves immediately looked over, seeing the man peeking out from behind one of the rocks in the outcropping. "Quickly, all of you in."

Thorin looked reluctant for a moment before he moved towards the rocks, peering down. "In." He shouted, turning around to look at the dwarves.

Emelia didn't need to be told twice. Fili shot past her, grabbing her hand to pull her forward. She stumbled slightly, accidentally pulling her hand from his. He looked back at her, seeing that she was still following before continuing, choosing not to re-grab her hand. All of the dwarves moved faster than her, including Bilbo. By the time she was about five feet away from the entrance, only Thorin, Fili, and Kili were left. Thorin was standing at the edge, making sure all got in safely.

"I will catch you Miss Emmy." Fili said simply before jumping into the whole.

She didn't doubt he would. She kept moving, thoroughly excited about getting away from the wargs, until she felt something pull at the end of her cloak, pulling her back with the opposite force from her fast running. She looked down, feeling her heart rate increasing as she searched for the source of the delay. She could feel the wargs coming closer and closer as she scanned, making her panic even more. She felt her heart beat relax ever so slightly when she saw that Bofur's cloak had been caught in a small twiggy bush.

She tugged on it, looking back and forth between the end of the cloak and the ever advancing wargs.

"Kili!"

She kept tugging, hands shaking as she struggled more and more. She felt like her heart was going to explode out of her chest as she realized it wasn't budging. Nothing she did could get the cloak to move. Nothing. She finally reached the knife down, hacking viciously at it in a desperate last ditch effort to free herself. The wargs were howling even louder, making hot tears spring up into her eyes and spill down her cheeks. She felt like she was back with the trolls, facing her death.

"Shit." She hacked even more, hands shaking with the effort. "Shit! Shit, Shit, Shit."

"What are you doing?" The sudden feeling of arms wrapping around her waist made her jump. The person, who she now saw was Kili, wrenched her so roughly the cloak rubbed against her neck, leaving behind angry fabric burns. "Are you trying to get yourself and myself killed?"

He pulled on her until she was finally free with a loud rip to the fabric. He pulled her along behind him, not noticing the warg that was so dangerously close to them Emelia could feel its breathing on her back. Her legs struggled to keep up with the pace he had, making her stumble with the effort to stay standing as they ran. He was practically dragging her across the plains.

She made the mistake of looking over her shoulder.

The warg was literally on top of them, barring it's teeth at them. Kili hadn't noticed, or if he had, he paid it no mind. She picked up her knife, ignoring the shaking in her hands, and threw it, not really aiming. She knew she had hit something when she heard the sound of something whining and a small thud. She would have been proud of herself if she wasn't so terrified. It felt like a thousand years before they finally made it to the place that all of the dwarves had disappeared into. Thorin was standing there, watching them and scanning for danger. Emelia didn't even chance a glance around them before Kili and her were literally throw into the hole. The last thing she saw before Kili shoved her down the entrance was a very angry looking Thorin and a very, appallingly bright sun.

She and Kili went flying down the hole in a ungraceful mess of limbs and hair, tumbling over each other before they finally came to land in a heap.

Kili landed on top, his forehead going flying into her nose with a loud, deafening crunch, causing stars to shoot across Emelia's already suspect vision.

Emelia saw blurs of shapes, in addition to red blood, as she just laid there, completely oblivious and dazed. She was vaguely aware of Kili sitting up slightly, rubbing his forehead blearily. He had barely sat up when he was sent flying back forward by a large rolling object, sending his forehead into her bleeding nose again.

"Damn it Kili." Emelia groaned, feeling her eyes roll into the back of her head.

"Kili get off her." Fili said, bending down next to them.

Kili sat up, seemingly to suddenly realize that he was crushing her to the ground with his body. He placed his hands on either side of her, moving lazily and blearily. Emelia could see the blood from her nose peppering his forehead like grotesque freckles. He stumbled slightly as he got up, teetering on his feet before he righted himself above her.

Fili immediately bent down, helping Emelia to her feet, ignoring the glare she was shooting at Kili from behind her bleeding nose. She opened her mouth to say something, only to be cut off by a thundering and sputtering Kili.

"What in the name of Mahal was that?" He snapped, moving towards her slightly, using his hand to wipe her blood off his forehead.

"What do you mean, 'what in the name of Mahal was that'?" Emelia ignored Fili's warning grip on her arm, moving towards Kili with two angry steps.

"You nearly got us both killed you cra…"

"I wasn't doing it on purpose. You think I wanted to be kibbles and bits to a pack of wargs?" She folded her arms over her chest, ignoring the looks she was getting from the rest of the dwarves.

"If I hadn't have been there you would have been." Kili fired back. "How thick are you to not run away?"

"Are you asking for a thank you?" Emelia moved forward until they were almost touching, clenching her fists up at her sides. "Because you aren't going to get one, Princess. Not in a million years. I didn't choose to play twister with a shrub, and I didn't choose to have to you tackle me to the ground as a form of rescue. I would have much rather done the swan dive down this little hole of wonders on my own."

"Look you little…"

"Kili!" Fili stepped between the two of them, pushing them both back with his arms.

"Consider smashing my nose us being even." Emelia snapped, storming back as Fili pushed her with his arm.

"That doesn't even begin to cover it." Kili seethed, pushing the bow over his shoulders with angry movements. "We almost died because of your idiocy and ineptitude. You are a foolish and selfish person if you don't see how reckless and damaging you are to this company."

"Big words, Kili. I'm impressed. Do you practice those insults at night in front of the mirror while you're fixing your hair and outfits? How about this? How about you pretend I don't exist, and I ignore you completely." Emelia offered, hearing a few of the dwarves snickering, only to be silenced by an angry look from Thorin.

"If you…"

"Enough." Thorin said suddenly, causing both of them to fall silent. "You are acting like children." He directed the last part more at Kili than Emelia, fixing him with a very nasty glare before moving away towards Dwalin, indicating that all of the dwarves should do the rest. "Oin, make sure that Miss Montgomery is well enough to move. Kili, come with me."

Emelia did not miss the utter disgust Thorin used on her name just like she didn't miss the look of hatred from Kili. She felt Fili sidle up next to her, carefully removing the cloak from her shoulders, relieving the pressure from the fabric burn that itched on her skin.

"I think he likes you Emmy." He said simply, grabbing her arm and pulling her towards a waiting Oin. "I mean, I can't remember the last time I saw a lass make him so infuriated and excited all at the same time."

"Shut up, Fee."

"No need to get testy." Fili said with a laugh. "I am just merely pointing out the obvious attraction the two of you have."

"Me and Kili have about as much chemistry as you have with a teaspoon." She said, scooting closer to Oin. The pain in her nose was staring to become uncomfortable. All of her words were coming out goopy and thick from the blood spilling out over her mouth.

"I happen to love teaspoons, Emmy."


	12. Arwen and Alunim

Oin had been quiet and reserved when he fixed Emelia's nose, unlike Fili, who hadn't been able to keep all of the little jesting side remarks to himself. Emelia imagined he was just trying to make her feel better, like he had when they first met, but for some reason she couldn't help but shoot him less than amused glares. Oin, thankfully, kept his mouth shut. He had not said a single word about the spat she had had with Kili, choosing instead to snap her nose back into a normal position without uttering a word to her. He finished and stomped away, muttering something under his breath that amused Fili to no end, leaving Emelia standing in her spot with a look of confusion on her face. She stood in her spot for a moment, before she felt Fili place a hand on her shoulder, pulling her along after the rest of the retreating dwarves.

It was in that moment that Emelia finally took notice of the place that they were in. She had been too preoccupied with hurling insults at Kili to notice that they were, in fact, in a cave that twisted and turned back and forth into the mountain. It was rather astounding to look at, with its veins of lican and roots covering all of the walls. The moisture that she expected to be in caves seeped down the sides of the walls, making the temperature drop ever so slightly and settle on a nice even cool that covered her entire body. She liked the cave for the simple fact that it was pretty and it wasn't making her sweat like everything else thus far into her stay had.

Fili had not given her much time to take in her surroundings, including the monstrosity of a dead body lying at the edge of the cave, before he was pushing her along with a good natured smile.

All of the dwarves had left, leaving the two of them standing in the little entrance alone. She shook her head, cringing when she felt her greasy hair bumping into the sides of her face, before she allowed Fili to lead the two of them back to the rest of the silent company.

She didn't bother trying to talk to him once he had pushed her along to catch up with the other dwarves. Thorin was far too close and far too angry at her to risk it. He had made it abundantly clear that she was nothing but a nuisance; a nuisance that he had about as much patience for as she had for Kili. She had picked up on the fact, from her past experiences and misfortunes with him, that it was better to just keep her mouth shut when it came to Thorin. She was less likely to end up bursting into tears that way.

The dwarves were quieter than they had been in the short time she had been with them. Bofur hummed softly to himself, earning slight smiles from his companions, but other than that, the dwarves were virtually silent. It was odd to her, to say the least. Their deep voices had filled up her hearing for the entire time since she had been with the trolls. The only time they weren't talking was when she had been sleeping, and that hadn't exactly been her best nights rest.

She didn't like the silence for one singular reason and one singular reason only. It allowed her far too much time with her own depressing thoughts.

Emelia missed Alaska. It was plain and rather simple. She didn't like the way the warmth of this world coated her body, leaving her feeling sweaty and tight. She didn't like the way the air tasted different on her tongue and floated through her nostrils differently. She didn't like that she felt like she was at a permanent renaissance festival when she was around the dwarves. And she didn't like that apparently dwarves were real. It went against every sense of reality she thought she had. It messed with her mind, and she didn't like that one single bit.

When she was younger she used to always wish for the sort of adventure she was having currently, to happen to her. She used to pretend she was a pirate for hours, just to escape the fact that she was stuck in the coldest and most miserable place for a child with a wild imagination to live. She used to wish for it so bad it hurt. However, now that she was away from home, adventuring like she had always wanted to, she found she didn't want it at all.

She didn't want it.

She didn't want any of it. Not the trolls. Not the cave or the cook pot. She didn't want to dwarves, as delightful as some of them were, and she didn't want Bilbo or Gandalf. She didn't want the warm river or the humid air.

She wanted her Mother, Father, and Eddy. She wanted to go fishing on her family's boat. She wanted to sit in their little red ice tent hating life, because she would take hating that over trekking through a cave a thousand times over.

If the amount of terror she had experienced in the short time she had been away from her family was any indication, she was sure she would die of fright if she was forced to continue on with the company of dwarves. She hadn't been not scared in her time with the dwarves, and it had thoroughly exhausted her.

She wished the dwarves would speak to each other, just so she would have something to focus on besides her family. She missed them so much it made her slightly nauseous.

The company walked for a relatively short time, not pausing once, before they finally came to a bit of sunshine. Emelia had only shaken her miserable thoughts away in increments, finding that she was only able to keep her mind off of her home when she was given something else to focus on. Like Fili making faces at her to cheer her up, or Ori allowing her to flip through his sketches. He never really made eye contact with her, and he offered little explanation as to what she was looking at, but he let her all the same. She imagined he was still upset about the incident in the woods. When they two of them weren't keeping her mind occupied she slipped back into thinking about what she would have been doing if she had been home.

After what felt like an eternity to the mopping Emelia, Fili finally leaned over to speak to her in a hushed voice.

"I am sorry if Kili has upset you this much. He is not normally so cruel with his words."

Emelia looked up at him, blinking slightly at the sudden sound of his deep voice. "It's not him. I don't care what he said, actually. What he said was actually fairly mild to what I am sure he was thinking." She said, subconsciously moving her hand up to the fabric burn on her neck that Kili had caused. "I am just thinking."

Fili regarded her for a moment, taking in her face as she spoke. He may not have been the most observant dwarf when it came to women, as most around him would attest to, but he knew well enough to know when a woman wasn't going to tell him something. Emelia had been shuffling along next to him, her face varying between undeniable sadness and occasional anger and frustration. He knew better than to try and hazard a guess as to what she was thinking, considering he might just offend her and make her more upset, but it did not stop his curiosity as to the source of her poor mood.

"Do you wish to speak to me about it?" Fili half hoped she would say no. He wouldn't know what to do if she suddenly burst into tears and began to relay her most emotional and confusing problems to him.

There was a reason he wasn't married.

Emelia looked up at him, a slight smirk quirking her features before she turned back to look at the narrow path they were following. "I'll save you the trouble and waterworks, Fee." She scooted closer to him, lowering her voice even more. "Besides, you wouldn't really believe me or understand anyway. I am just exhausted, and I want nothing more than to pass out and never wake up again."

"I wouldn't want that Emmy." Fili said simply, hoping to cheer her up. "Who else would bother my little brother if you did?"

"I am sure he would find a way to piss of some other unsuspecting female. He seems to have that talent" Emelia said dryly. "But seriously, it is nothing to worry about."

Fili didn't push her to speak to him about it more. He could tell that something was bothering her, besides the expected hunger and fatigue. He was rather impressed she had held up as long as she had, physically speaking, considering how little rest and recovery time she had been given after her ordeal with the trolls. When they had found her she had looked abysmally fatigued and out of sorts and she had not been given any time to recover. She had looked rather exhausted before they had had to run for their lives, and she looked positively dead on her feet afterwards. He knew it wasn't just physical exhaustion however. She looked sad and upset as she shuffled on her feet, looking at the ground and the walls of the cave intermittently. He knew she was upset, but he left her to her silence, allowing her to mull over her private thoughts without him trying to pry it out of her before she was ready to share it.

She only stopped shuffling and pursing her lips when they came to look out over Imaldris, or Rivendell as Fili had always heard of it. Of course, he had always heard the name with no small amount of disdain and malice. The place he was looking at was nothing like what the stories had indicated. It was almost too pleasant to look at. Too clean. Too pristine. Fili took an instant disliking to the place, just like every other companion in his company, and felt his face slide into a scowl as he looked at the buildings and streams.

It seemed Emelia did not share their feelings. In fact, her face was quite the opposite of theirs. She was smiling, genuinely smiling, as she looked out over the valley. Her hands, which had been clenched up at her sides, relaxed and her shoulders lowered to a normal position. Fili was rather confused for the briefest of moments as to why a city, and an elf city at that, would have such an effect on her. He quickly realized that to someone else, someone not dwarven and a female, would find the elf city to be a truly wonderful sight to behold, even if he himself found it to be a little whimsical and soft for his taste.

Emelia felt her breath leave her body when she got her first glimpse of Rivendell. It was like nothing she had ever seen before, with its beautiful waterfalls and majestic looking arches. It had a glow about it that calmed Emelia to the fullest extent, making her almost forget all that had happened to her. Everything that she had seen had been ugly and tainted. But this city was something she could not find a bad thing about. Something so pretty couldn't be bad.

She would have enjoyed looking at that city for hours if it hadn't been for Fili pulling her along down the thin rocky path that led down to the city.

She could tell he wasn't in a good mood as he pulled her along. None of the dwarves were in fact. They all shot dark looks at the city they were getting closer and closer to, muttering things in an odd language towards each other. She did not miss their dark looks and stiff body language. Although, she didn't really understand why. The city, Rivendell, did anything but stress her out. She wasn't even in it, and it made her entire body feel lighter and better than it had in days.

None of the dwarves spoke to Emelia once they finally walked through the massive archway that led to the entrance of the city. Fili moved away from her, placing himself next to his scowling brother and tense uncle, leaving her to gaze at all of the architecture with a horribly disguised smile.

Just because the dwarves were being sour didn't mean she had to be.

Gandalf was the first to step forward when a tall man, impeccably dressed, stepped forward to greet the group. He was impossibly handsome, with his long brown hair and bright blue eyes. He looked nothing like the dwarves. He was smooth and refined, in a stark contrast to their rugged hairiness and stocky frame. Emelia found herself blushing as she looked at him. She was quite certain she had never seen someone so beautiful, male or female, in her entire life.

None of the dwarves were as impressed with his handsomeness, not that she expected them to be. They regarded him with the same amount of disdain they held for the city, folding their stocky arms over their chests as he spoke in hushed, velvety tones with Gandalf.

Emelia found herself zoning out as she watched the tall man speak. He was just so perfect. She lost track of the conversation for the vast majority of it, until she heard the sounds of what she assumed were horses. She tore her gaze away from the handsome brunette, only to be grabbed roughly by the arm by Gloin and be shoved next to Bilbo. The little hobbit did not seem as impressed by the dwarves as antics. He looked over at Emelia, offering her a small smile, before he turned back to look at the approaching group of riders.

Emelia watched as the horses circled the dwarves, forcing them closer together. Emelia felt herself being smashed between the dwarves and the little hobbit on her side, making her body tense up slightly at the pressure.

"Gandalf." The man who spoke was just as handsome as the other one. He was taller, if that was possible, and more defined looking with his calculating eyes and calm demeanor. He was regal and poised, and Emelia immediately liked him more than she liked a majority of the dwarves.

"Lord Elrond." Gandalf said in response, moving closer to him.

"Strange thing for Orcs to come so close to our borders. They are not normally so reckless and careless. Something, or someone, must have drawn them near to us."

"That was more than likely us." Gandalf had the decency to sound slightly sheepish as he spoke to Lord Elrond. Emelia tried to peek out from behind Gloin, only to be pushed back even farther.

Lord Elrond moved away from Gandalf, taking in the hostile faces of the dwarves. He gazed at her for a moment, making her face heat up once more. His eyes were intimidatingly blue. He moved his gaze onto Thorin, addressing him in a regal manner. Emelia reached her hand up to her cheek, thoroughly embarrassed by the fact that she had blushed so much in such a little time. The dwarves were mumbling amongst themselves, ignoring the looks the tall man and Lord Elrond were giving them. It seemed in the time that Emelia had been busy fretting over her embarrassing physiological response to handsome faces she had missed an important part of the conversation.

"Led on then." It was Gloin who spoke, finally stepping out from in front of Emelia and allowing her to be seen by the other men who had come riding in with Lord Elrond. They all looked at her with slight confusion on their faces.

She imagined it was because she was so dreadfully disgusting looking. She would be alarmed if she saw herself too.

The dwarves shuffled along behind the tall men, shooting shifty glances around at the building they were being led into. Emelia had thought the outside was beautiful, but she found she liked the inside so much more. It was ornately decorated and appeared to glow. It had paintings and willowy looking decorations lining all of the walls, making Emelia immediately feel better. She was at least back amongst something civilized. There was furniture, and rooms, and walls. She had not realized how much she missed walls. She assumed there were beds, and beds meant sleep.

The thought of a good night's sleep immediately filled her mind, consuming all of her thoughts.

The group had barely made it into the magnificent building when they were stopped by two women, smiling serenely down at them.

The women, from what little Emelia could see of them, made the men she had seen earlier look like trolls. They were absolutely gorgeous, with their flowing dresses and long well-kept hair. They were intimidatingly tall and thin, with pristine features and serene faces that looked as if they were never angry, or sad, or remotely upset. Emelia immediately wished she had been able to do more than just dip herself into the warm water of the stream. She felt grimy and repulsive as the two women approached them.

The dwarves tensed up when the women approached, closing into each other tighter and shooting them sour looks.

"We have heard there was a lady amongst you who is in need of assistance." The brunette one spoke. "We mean her no harm, Master dwarves."

Even their voices were perfect.

Emelia suddenly, when she compared herself to those women, felt inadequate and homely looking. She felt like her hair was appallingly frizzy and that her nails were chewed to the bone from her nervousness in the last couple of days. Her clothes suddenly felt horribly inappropriate compared to their long dresses and her eyes felt very dull and stupid looking when placed next to their bright and intelligent looking blue eyes.

The blonde woman was not as pretty as her companion, making Emelia immediately feel slightly more comfortable as her gaze drifted over her. She was slightly shorter and curvier, with tanner skin and dirty blonde hair that curled more than the brunette. She looked much more amused by the dwarves than the brunette as she looked at all them with horribly disguised fascination. Emelia even thought she saw her eyes lingering on Fili and Kili longer than was necessary. Of course, she probably just imagined that due to fatigue. The blonde gazed for a moment loner until her eyes found Emelia, causing her to nudge the brunette and point to her, offering the red head a small soft smile.

Fili moved in front of her, shooting the two women a very dark look, pushing her back slightly with one of his arms. All of the dwarves tensed up when the blonde woman stepped towards Emelia, her graceful arm extended towards her in welcoming. Emelia couldn't help but roll her eyes at the group of dwarves. These were the first women Emelia had been round in days, and she wasn't going to let the dwarves and their odd behavior keep the women from helping her.

"I am Arwen, daughter of Lord Elrond." The brunette inclined her head in greeting towards her Emelia and the rest of the dwarves and Bilbo. "It is my pleasure to welcome you to Rivendell."

"And I am Alunim." The blonde one said, shooting Emelia a large smile. Her eyes traced over Emelia's face, finally settling on her raggedy, stringy red hair. "I absolutely adore your hair."

Emelia, who had been attempting to smile, immediately felt her entire face heat up in a blush as all of the dwarves looked over at her with their lips pursed. She wasn't sure if Alunim was just saying it to be nice or if she was being truly honest. Either way it made her feel more feminine and less like she was coated in every type of nasty thing under the sun.

"Thank you." She managed to squeak out.

"We have some clean clothes for you, as well as a bath, if you would come with us, lady..." Alunim said, gesturing for Emelia to come with her and Arwen. She trailed off in questioning of her name.

"Emelia Kinsington Montgomery." She wouldn't ever be able to explain why she had felt the sudden need to launch into her full name. All of the dwarves looked over to her, odd looks on their faces. Kili had the nerve to laugh. Fili smirked at her, mouth twisted up in amusement. "Don't say a word, Fee." Emelia hissed at him, turning her attention back on the two women.

"Do not fret, we will return her to you in a better condition and well taken care of." Arwen said, ignoring the eye rolling coming from Emelia. She highly doubted if any of the dwarves, besides Fili, Ori, and Balin, would notice she was gone at all.

Emelia was more than eager for some clean clothes and a bath. More so the bath than the clothes, but she wouldn't ever dream of saying no to either. She stepped out from behind the tense Fili, patting him slightly on the back before she approached the two women. The thought of a bath was far too tempting to pass up. She smiled up at the two tall women, ignoring the glares she was getting from the dwarves at her retreating back, and followed after them.


	13. Girl Talk

Alunim and Arwen, who turned out to be elves, which incidentally turned out to exist, were not what Emelia would have imagined when she pictured elves. She imagined short little fatties eating Santa's cookies and making shoes. Not statuesque model looking people who offered her food, clothes, and hygiene opportunities. Given her overall fatigue and rather noxious body odor, she would have taken the latter any day of the week, despite how much it freaked her out to think that elves were, just like dwarves, very real.

She had decided, at some point into her steamy, soap filled bath, that elves being real wasn't all that surprising. It was actually quite logical for the place that threw all logic out of the window.

Arwen and Alunim had been quite delighted to meet her. They had pulled her along behind them, gushing to each other about the redness of her hair and the daintiness of her features. They couldn't stop tittering back and forth about her green eyes, which apparently weren't very common to see, and the smoothness of her skin, which apparently held a tan better than either of them could ever hope for. They had had to stop themselves when they saw the scrunched up look on Emelia's face. She had missed females, but she found that she was far too exhausted to deal with all that came with her gender.

They had quieted down once they saw that Emelia was not as enthusiastic as they were.

Of course, it was hard to be enthusiastic about anything but a bath and sleep when she was as exhausted as she was.

They had pulled her into one of the guest rooms, closing the door behind them with a small snap, before they turned to face her. They had immediately went to work taking all of the clothes, much to Emelia's alarm and embarrassment, before they sent her into the bathroom wearing nothing but an ill-fitting robe. Apparently, elves didn't think much of nudity.

The bath was delightful. There was no other way to describe it. It was warm, not just lukewarm like the river had been, but appetizingly warm. The water covered her sore body like a blanket, inviting her to sink down into the ornately made tube until only her nose and up stuck out of the water. The soaps and lotions, which all smelled too fancy for Emelia to even fathom using in her normal life, covered her sore muscles, instantly relaxing her to the point that she feared she might fall asleep right then and there.

She felt like she had been in the tub for years when Alunim poked her head into the bathroom, a smirk on her pretty face.

"You haven't drowned have you?" She asked, moving into the room holding a tray full of little jars and strips of fabric.

Emelia looked down at herself, attempting to cover up her more private bits from the elf. She supposed it wasn't the nudity that bothered her. It was more the fact that she was sure the elves, as beautiful and fair as they were, found her to be appallingly plain and uncomfortable to look at. Especially considering she hadn't shaved, anywhere in six days, and she was quite sure that the elves weren't even capable of growing body hair anywhere besides their heads. Body hair would be too ugly for them.

"I have come to heal some of your wounds." She placed the trey onto a tall stool moving closer to the tub. "Are you done bathing yourself?"

Emelia knew she was staring. Her mouth was open slightly as she looked at the blonde. She hoped at some point during her stay in Rivendell she would find the elves to be less intimidatingly beautiful. They probably wouldn't take too kindly to her constant gawking.

"Is something wrong?" Alunim face fell slightly as she looked down at the surprised woman. "Have I done something to upset you?"

Emelia shook her head, immediately feeling bad for her staring. "No. You're just a little intimidating," She paused, looking around uncomfortably. "And I'm kind of naked, so I suppose this is a little weird."

"I can leave until you wrap a dying cloth around yourself, if that would make you more comfortable." Alunim immediately reached over to hand her a large, fluffy cloth, before turning around, causing her hair to swing down her back.

Emelia made quick work of standing up in the now almost cold water, despite her bodies vehement protests. She had liked sitting down far too much to enjoy being forced to stand again. She hurriedly wrapped the cloth around herself, before stepping out of the tub and onto to the small carpet that laid next to it. It felt soft underneath her toes. She felt the blisters that had formed from all of the running and walking squeezing painfully underneath her feet, making her wince slightly as she put weight on her bare feet.

"I guess I'm decent."

Alunim immediately spun around, moving forward to lead her over to a small bench. She sat her down, being careful not to touch any of her sensitive injured skin. She pulled the cloth away from her back bending down slightly to examine her, before she reached for one of the jars. She unscrewed the lid, dipping her slender fingers into the paste, before she deposited it onto her skin, smiling slightly at Emelia when she hissed at the cooling sensation.

She worked in silence for a moment before she spoke up, breaking the tension in the room.

"I do have to admit, I am slightly curious about you." She said in a light voice, wrapping a bit of fabric around her upper arm. "I always thought she-dwarves had beards."

Emelia had to fight the snort. That was the most ridiculous thing she had ever heard. "They have beards? Like the men?"

Alunim paused in her work, looking down at Emelia in confusion. "You are not dwarven in nature?"

"No." Emelia said slowly. "I am a human."

Alunim mouth fell open in a slight 'o' shape. "You are so tiny for a human." She paused, a thoughtful look on her face before she spoke again. "Although, I suppose I am short for an elf, so it is not so unheard of."

"You're short for an elf?" Emelia found that hard to believe. The woman healing her was at least five foot nine if not taller.

"Of course. It is something that I have always known."

They lapsed into comfortable silence after that, leaving Alunim to finish her work in the quiet. She hummed to herself, and Emelia, lulling the red head into a hazy state. Her wounds felt better, thanks to whatever paste Alunim was using, and her own body odor wasn't offending even herself. The only thing left before she would completely pass out form exhaustion was a good meal, which she sincerely hoped was coming. Her stomach was practically eating itself as she sat on the wooden bench.

"I wish I was graced with you hair color." Alunim said suddenly, sitting back from where she had been bent over Emelia's shoulder. "It looks like fire."

"It's a menace, trust me." Emelia paused, seeing the curious look on the elf's face. "Besides, haven't you ever heard that blondes have more fun?"

"I am not familiar with that particular phrase, although I do like it." Alunim smiled at her, despite her confusion. "Your hair would make you very unique amongst elves and men alike."

"I think I stand out enough as it is." Emelia said the last part more to herself than to Alunim.

"Are you ready to dress and join you companions for supper?" Alunim asked, sensing the young woman desired a change in subject. "I believe Arwen is waiting patiently, and not so patiently, to decide which dress would suit you the best. Shall we join her?"

Emelia nodded, pulling herself into a standing position. She gripped the cloth around herself tightly to avoid showing the two elves more than she wanted to. They moved towards the door, only for Emelia to stop suddenly, turning around to look at the blonde. "Do I smell better?"

"Of course. You will not offend anyone." She shot her a smirk. "Besides, I believe it would be hard to smell worse than a dwarf. I have heard they do not place a particular importance on cleaning themselves."

Emelia had decided, right then and there, that she rather liked Alunim. She wasn't pushy or nosy, only asking questions out of genuine curiosity. She humored her with her answers to Emelia's rather stupid questions, and she did not question her need for modesty. She didn't pry into why a human woman was with the dwarves, and she didn't question her odd injuries and the way she spoke, like all of the dwarves had. She merely smiled at her, making Emelia instantly feel more comfortable.

"Ah, there you two are." The elf called Arwen stood up from where she had been sitting on the bed. "I was beginning to wonder if I should call for help." She shot Alunim a wink, before moving her serene gaze to Emelia. "You look far better Lady Emelia. I believe we should get you back to your companions." Arwen paused when Emelia's stomach let out a particularly foul growl of hunger. "And supper."

Her laugh was tinkling and musical. Alunim pushed Emelia forward with her hands, giving her an amused smile.

Arwen moved to the side, gesturing to the four dressed that were laid out on the bed. A blue one, which looked far too fancy, a green one, which looked appallingly fancy, a purple one, which Emelia was sure was only fit for royalty to wear, and a light pink one, which looked far too much like Pepto Bismal for Emelia's liking. All in all, she couldn't really imagine herself in any of them, yet they seemed to be her only options at the moment, considering the two elves had taken her clothes and not returned them.

"I personally think the green would look fantastic." Alunim said, moving forward to lift it up and hold it in front of Emelia. "It would match your eyes."

"Although, perhaps the purple would highlight her skin tone."

"It would clash with her hair."

"The blue would look delightful."

Emelia watched them debating back and forth, noticing that both of their eyes kept glancing at the pale pink with interest.

"I'll wear the green." She said, hoping to put an end to the debate before they decided that the pink would look the best. They both looked over at her for a moment before identical smiles graced their fare faces. Alunim immediately grabbed the dress and moved towards Emelia, indicating for Arwen to follow. She made to grab the cloth that covered Emelia, only to stop.

"I forgot, would you like us to leave you to dress?"

"I suppose it's fine. We all have the same baby making parts after all." Emelia said, not entirely sure if she would be able to dress herself in such a fancy garment without falling flat on her face.

"I suppose we do." Alunim let out a laugh.

She handed the cloth Arwen before she held the dress out, indicating that Emelia should step into it. Emelia moved gingerly, acutely aware of the bandages covering her body, stepping into the dress with slow movements. The fabric was probably the most delightful thing Emelia had ever felt. It flowed over her skin like water, settling comfortably and covering her completely. It pooled on the floor, making Emelia feel impossibly short, and hung off her shoulders slightly more than it should have, but it covered her up and that was what mattered to her the most.

"We have sent all of your clothing to be washed." Arwen said, moving behind Emelia to tie the smooth bits of string, pulling the dress tight against her hips and waist. Emelia immediately missed the support he bra offered her.

"I should have known you weren't a she-dwarf." Alunim said, looking at her with her eyebrow quirked. "You are far too dainty to be a she-dwarf."

"You haven't seen any she-dwarves." Arwen reminded her simply, shaking her head.

"I have read about them and their copious amounts of body hair." Alunim said simply. She moved back to in front of Emelia, producing a comb from out of nowhere. She moved her into a sitting position, trying to tame her wild hair into something that the two elves would deem presentable. After what felt like hours of pulling and tugging, Alunim and Arwen finally said she was ready to go to supper. She immediately jumped up.

Emelia would have gone to supper in the state she had arrived in Rivendell in. She didn't need to be pretty to eat.

* * *

All of the dwarves had not expected her to join them at supper. Only a select few of them had missed her when the two elf women whisked her away to get her cleaned up a little bit. The dwarves, with the exception of Thorin, had all been too preoccupied with the thought of food to really pay too much attention to her absence. Thorin had only paid attention to her lack of presence for the simple fact that he did note trust her not to reveal the purpose of the dwarves to be on the East Road. In fact, he didn't really trust her to not be within his line of vision, now that he knew she was completely aware of their quest to reclaim Erebor.

It was almost as if the vast majority of them had completely forgotten she existed, until she came stumbling onto the balcony, laughing slightly with the two elves that escorted her.

She looked so much better than she had over the past couple of days, she was almost unrecognizable to the dwarves. Her hair, which had been dingy and stringy, was curling down her back and over her ears in smooth waves. Her face was completely clean and well kept, revealing for the first time, the true nature of her skin tone. The dress she wore, while entirely too elven for the dwarves taste, flattered her and made her look feminine for the first time in the time that they had known her.

She wasted no time in hurrying over to the table, first bidding the two elf women farewell with a large smile, and plopping herself down ungracefully in the open seat next to Fili and Kili. She felt all of the dwarves eyes on her for a moment, before they turned back to their meals.

Emelia was not going to pretend to be a lady when she dug into the food in front of her. She piled up her plate with pastas, salads, and more bread than was probably legal, before she settled into her seat. She couldn't slow down her pace as she ate the food. She felt like she hadn't eaten in months. Her stomach had literally hurt from the lack of food and it felt way too good to finally quench her hunger.

"Slow down Emmy." Fili said with a laugh from next to her. "The food isn't going to get up and walk away."

"Stranger things have happened, Fee." Emelia said from behind a mouth full of bread.

"You look well, Lassie." Balin said from across the table, smiling kindly at her.

"Thanks Balin." Emelia wasn't sure if it was a compliment or an observation, but she appreciated it either way. "I feel so clean."

All of the dwarves, much to Emelia's great surprise offered her small smiles before going back to their meals. She could tell it wasn't their favorite by the looks on their faces, but they ate it all the same. Ori looked particularly upset by the lack of meat on the table and took a great amount of coaxing from both of his older brothers in order to eat all of what was on his plate. He reminded Emelia vividly of Eddy and his complete hatred of everything green.

"You know Emmy, you really do look nice." Fili said quietly, leaning over to address her. "I wouldn't normally say so, considering you are wearing a dress made by elves, but it is undeniable."

"Stop trying to be charming, Fee, it doesn't work on you." Emelia said playfully, shoving his shoulder before turning back to her food.

"And here I thought I was finally winning you over."

"Would you two stop?" Kili said suddenly, glaring over at the two of them. "I would prefer not to lose my dinner because of your insistence of flirting with each other incessantly."

"Lighten up, little brother." Fili said with a laugh, slapping Kili on the shoulder. "Even you have to admit, Miss Emelia Kinsington Montgomery looks nice."

Kili looked over at her, shrugging his brother's arm off of his shoulder. He wouldn't admit it, but she did. More than nice actually. It was an odd experience for him, finding a human female attractive, and one who made him go insane at that. Normally he found the lack of body hair to be a put off, but he couldn't really imagine Emelia with a beard. She looked prettier without one. But someone would have to be blind not to see that Emelia look pretty. Her hair, which he still found to be obnoxious, didn't look as pathetic as it had when they had first met. It looked wild and soft the way it curled all around her. Her nose, which was still slightly swollen from his forehead colliding with it, wasn't covered in blood. Nothing on her was covered in blood anymore, in fact. Her hands were clean, and her wrists were bound and tended to.

"She looks like a miniature elf." Kili said simply, turning back to his food.

"Thanks Kili." Emelia said simply, rolling her eyes. "You have me positively swooning with you words."

Fili couldn't hold in his laughter any longer at the two of them. He had never, in all of the years he spent with his brother, seen someone bother him so much. Emelia literally made Kili want to pull out his own hair, and Fili couldn't help but find it terribly amusing. He knew the look of slight amusement on his brother's face when he saw it. Kili was trying desperately to hide it, but Fili could tell he was finding it hard to be terse with Emelia when she was being as funny and snarky with him as she was being. Kili had always found it hard to resist snark. It was part of the reason he and Fili got along so well besides the fact that they were brothers.

"Swoon somewhere else." Dwalin said suddenly. "We're trying to enjoy our meal."

"Of course, I'll try to contain myself." Emelia said with a small smile, before she turned back to her half eaten second helping.

* * *

The dwarves were quick to finish their meal and move on to the room the elves had given them. Emelia, now that she had been fed, looked positively exhausted, shuffling along behind all of the dwarves, dragging her green dress along the floor without bothering to pick up the ends. They all had plans of roasting some of the meat Bombur kept in his pack and were eager to get a good night's rest.

Bilbo, who was almost as exhausted as Emelia, fell asleep almost as soon as she had laid down on one of the provided sleeping pallets. He curled up into a tight little ball, pulling his blankets over his head to block out all of the noise from the dwarves. Emelia envied him for a moment. She should have asked Alunim and Arwen if she was going to be sharing the space with the dwarves or if she was going to be given her own place to sleep for the night.

She settled herself down on the cold stone of the floor, smiling slightly when Ori finally managed to talk to her again when he offered her some salted pork.

Emelia knew it was a mistake to sit down. She should have just found a spot to sleep for the night and been done with it. She should have, but she didn't, resulting in her falling asleep against the cold stone of the pillars, slumping down to the ground in a small heap, her dress fanning out around her and keeping her warm, despite the chilliness of the summer night. It hadn't been particularly comfortable, but it was sleep either way, and Emelia found herself out like a cold stone for the majority of the night.

She had thought she had managed to sleep the entire night when she felt a hand shaking her awake rather roughly. It tried once, twice, and finally a third time before they finally managed to rouse her from her deep sleep.

She jumped slightly when she saw Kili crouched next to her, a smirk on his face. "Thorin wishes to speak to you." He paused, looking around at the rest of the sleeping dwarves. "You'll have to get your beauty sleep later."

She groaned slumping back into the column even further. "Damn it Kili, what time is it?"

"Early," Was his one word reply. "Now come on, he's already angry enough at you without you making him wait."

"Was that concern I heard in your voice?" Emelia asked, forcing herself into a standing position. "I'm flattered."

"Don't get carried away. He said he wanted to talk to both of us." Kili said, moving aside to allow her to pass through the door that led to their little balcony. "He didn't look happy, so if you could move faster that would be fantastic."

They lapsed into uncomfortable silence all the way up until Kili led her into the room that Thorin had been given separate from them. True to what Kili had said, he did not look happy when he looked over at the two of them standing awkwardly in the entrance. Kili moved towards him, indicating that Emelia should follow behind him. She stumbled slightly over the length of her dress before righting herself in front of the two taller dwarves.

"Miss Montgomery," Emelia assumed that was supposed to be what Thorin considered to be a polite greeting. "There is something of importance that we need to discuss."

"Like why you seem to dislike me sleeping?" Emelia offered, crossing her arms over her chest. Thorin did not look impressed with her little quip. He shot her a dark look before continuing with what he was planning on saying.

"You will accompany us when we leave Rivendell in a few days' time."

Emelia didn't think he was being serious. The entire time she had been with the dwarves he had done nothing but make it abundantly clear that he neither wanted her amongst them or near them. He had indicated, rather vehemently that he would not hesitate to get rid of her if she caused problems for the company. Emelia knew that's all she was capable of. She wasn't as fast as them, or as strong, or nearly as sturdy. She didn't belong with them.

There was also the additional fact that she just plain didn't want to go with them.

"No thanks." Emelia said simply.

"It wasn't a question." Thorin rubbed his nose, seeming to try and hold back his anger. "You know too much, even with the little you do know, to risk you being left here on your own. With your lack of understanding and tact, you are more likely to go blathering about our quest to the first person who asked you. I will not risk that, so you are to come with us."

"You can't just make me go with you." Emelia said, feeling anger and panic rising up in her chest. "I can't do anything to defend myself. I would just get in the way. Not to mention the fact that if the last couple of days are any indication, I would rather be a thousand miles away from you guys. You attract far too much trouble for my liking. So, no, I'm not going."

Thorin gripped his hands at his sides, looking at her with a glare etched so deep into his face, Emelia wasn't sure if it would ever come off. "You act as if I want you amongst us."

Ouch.

"I would much rather have left you where we found you. You are nothing but trouble waiting to happen. I would much prefer you stay as far away as possible, rather than endangering the lives of my men and the sanctity of this quest. However, because of the mistake of Ori, that is no longer an option. You will come with us, just to prevent you from opening your far too liberal mouth, even if I have to drag you away from here myself."

"You can't just act like you have some authority over me. I'm not going to go blabbing about Arbor or whatever, and I'm not going to spill the beans on whatever the hell you have planned. I am however, going to be a complete and utter waste of space if you make me go. I am going to die, because let's be honest, I can't fight worth shit. I was beat up by kids younger than me in my hometown. Younger. What good I am going to be? None."

"You are not a valuable asset, Miss Montgomery. You are only going because I will not risk losing Erebor because of your incompetence and stupidity."

Emelia opened her mouth to respond only to shut it again. She looked over at Kili, hoping that he would help her in some way. She wished it had been Fili or Balin standing there, instead of the one dwarf that hated her more than Thorin did. Kili looked at her briefly, an odd look of pity on his face before he turned back to face Thorin. Emelia felt trapped. Thorin wasn't the type to kid around. He was serious when he said he would drag her along if he had to. He would make sure she was in his sights even if he had to tie a rope around her to keep her there. He would force her, no matter how much she didn't want to go.

"Kili, Fili and Dwalin will make sure you are not a complete waste of supplies and space before we leave in three days."

Kili opened his mouth to protest, only to be silenced by a look from Thorin. He glanced over at the shaking Emelia, feeling bad for her for the briefest of moments. She had sounded desperate as she pleaded with his uncle to be allowed to stay. Her voice had cracked slightly as she had tired over and over to get him to leave her here. He imagined it would be hard for her, considering all that she had been through, to be told that her ordeal wasn't even remotely over. Fili would be delighted to know that she was coming; as much as that irked Kili for some reason he had not figured out yet. Ori would probably pee himself in excitement. Dwalin would probably punch something.

"I swear to god, Thorin Oakenshield, if I die because of you, I'm going to be your personal poltergeist."

With that, she turned on her heel and stormed away, fighting the tears that were prickling at her eyes. She didn't want a quest. She didn't want their adventure. She wanted Alaska and to be able to get a solid night's sleep without being harassed by dwarves. She wanted to wear her bra again and she wanted to hold her family. But perhaps most of all, she wanted to punch Thorin square in his angry face.


	14. Gossip

Emelia considered herself to be more passive than aggressive in nature. It had always been something she prided herself on. She didn't start fights, nor did she participate when someone tried to start one with her. Growing up in Kessog, it was often seen that people would try and entertain themselves in any way possible, and that sometimes included fighting with each other, only in jest and good fun, to stave off the endless hours of darkness that plagued them for half of the year. Her family, being second generation Irish immigrants on her father's side, had always gotten the jokes about being too quick to get drunk and too quick to get in fights.

Emelia never did any of that. She never had a desire to. That is until she met Thorin Oakenshield. That dwarf made her want to kick something, punch something, slap something, just to make her horrendous anger and frustration go away. She felt it bubbling and boiling under the surface of her skin, making her feel like tiny pins and needles were peppering her skin. With every single step she took farther and farther away from Thorin and Kili, the angrier and angrier she felt herself getting.

The nerve of them, the audacity of the whole thing, made her eyes water with angry tears.

Her entire body was shaking so much she had to stop walking for fear that she might fall down. She leaned herself against one of the many walls that made up Rivendell, dropping her hands down to her knees to steady her angry breathing. Her chest heaved up and down as she struggled to get herself to calm down from seeing red in front of her. She felt her legs slipping out from underneath her as she slid down to the ground in a mass of green fabric. She pulled her legs up to her chest, resting her face on the tops of her knees. The dress felt soft against her face, making the tears that sprung out of her eyes feel even more out of place. Her hands trembled as she attempted to wipe her eyes and nose to avoid soiling the dress she had been given. She could feel her nose running like a small child, making her feel even more humiliated that she found herself, once again, bawling on the floor in a heap thanks to Thorin.

She hated him. She really did. The thought of her being forced to continue traveling with the dwarves made her feel physically ill. It wasn't right and it wasn't fair. It felt like one bad thing was happening to her after another. First the trolls, then the wargs, and finally Thorin. He was a paranoid old bastard and she hated him. She hated him so much she felt her stomach churning with anger. The entire situation made her stomach churn with anger. How they could think that they could just drag her along like a rag doll was beyond her. It was as if they had no concern for her feelings. They only cared about their stupid mission. She was nothing to them and that made her angrier than she had been in her recent memory.

Emelia had been hoping that Rivendell might be the end of her ordeal. She had hoped that the elves who resided there would maybe be able to point her in the direction of a way to get home. But that seemed almost impossible now that she was going to be leashed to Thorin Oakenass and his band of miscreants.

The sun had risen up completely in the sky by the time one of the dwarves managed to find her leaning against the wall. She had slumped down into herself, not bothering to remove her head from her knees. It was Kili who found her sitting slumped in on herself, sniffing like she had just come down from a particularly violent bought of tears. She was curled up so tightly, Kili was surprised she hadn't disappeared entirely into her too big green dress.

He had followed her, against his better judgment, when she had gone stalking out of the room his uncle had been in. She hadn't been hard to follow, considering she was stomping around like an angry troll, leaving behind a trail of muttered curse words and loud threats that echoed down the halls. He had left some space between the two of them, allowing the angry woman time to calm down before he approached her. He didn't exactly need her going after his nose again.

He had expected to find her kicking something, or throwing some of the ornate vases that sat on the tables that decorated the hallways. It wouldn't have surprised him to see her ripping a tapestry down from the wall. He did not, however, expect to find her crumpled in on herself, crying softly into her knees. Her hair, which had looked so nice, had come out of the tie the elves had done it in, allowing some of the wilder strands to stick to her wet face. Her dress hung awkwardly off one shoulder and pooled on the floor by her completely covered feet, making her look so small it was almost alarming.

He should have just turned around right then and there, but he really couldn't bring himself to do it. Fili would probably punch him if he left his older brothers newest friend on the floor crying and collecting dust. Not to mention that in addition to the fact his brother would make his life miserable, he felt an oddly uncomfortable pang in his chest when he saw her sitting there alone crying. He moved towards her, if only to get the pang to go away, and sat down gingerly next to her.

She didn't look up when she felt the warmth next to her. She merely pressed her face into her knees further, making colors shoot across her vision from the pressure.

"Emelia," Kili was positive she would be able to hear the awkwardness in his voice when he addressed her. "I am sorry you have to come with us."

"No you're not." Her voice came out thick and watery sounding. "You're only saying that because you don't want to have to be around me for longer than necessary."

He let out a small chuckle, earning a scoff from Emelia. "You may be correct in that assumption, Miss Emelia." He paused when he saw her look up at him, a look of derision marring her tear stained face. "But I find, despite that, I feel sorry that you are being forced to come with us."

"I shouldn't have to, Princess." Emelia said, leaning back against the cold stone of the wall.

Kili normally would have said something about the 'princess' remark, but he knew better than to upset her even further. "I know you shouldn't, but…"

"But nothing. I'm going to die if I go with you. Does that not even factor in for you?" She paused, hating that she had once again started to breathe heavier. "Does that not even matter to any of you?"

Kili didn't really know how to answer her. He wasn't particularly fond of her, but that did not mean he wanted to see anything bad happen to her. None of the dwarves wanted that. His uncle, as coldly as he had treated her, would never wish for that to happen. "It matters."

"Then why?" Her voice was nothing more than a whisper. "Why can't I just go home?"

"I don't really have an answer that will satisfy you." Kili said slowly.

"You could lie to me." Emelia offered, stretching her legs out in front of her, before folding her arms up into her lap. "I wouldn't get mad at you."

"Yes you would." Kili said, looking over at her as she looked down at the folded hands in her lap. "Besides, I do not think I could come up with a reasonable excuse."

Emelia glanced up at him, finally managing to dry her face completely with the palms of her hands. It had occurred to both of them how odd it was that they had managed to talk with each other without a nose being broken. Emelia had not been aware that Kili was even capable of having a civil conversation, let alone offer her some sort of comfort. As she was looking up at him, she could see, for the first time, how much he and his brother were alike. While they looked nothing alike, she could hear the same soft concern in Kili's voice that she had heard in Fili's voice the entire time she had been around him. She knew Kili didn't like her, yet he had the decency to look at her with pity and a kindness in his face that she hadn't seen directed at her. He had the decency not to make fun of her, or tell her to pull it together and stop acting like a baby. He had the decency to sit by her when she needed someone to sit by her the most.

"Do you think I am going to die?" She asked quietly, never breaking eye contact with him.

Kili looked at her, feeling slightly uncomfortable under her green eyed gaze. He had seen her panicking, listless, and hurt in the span of the last couple of days, but he imagined that was all from a physical influence. This time it was different. She looked genuinely terrified of what was going to happen to her. Emelia looked like she had just been told her death would be coming within the next couple of moments.

"I wouldn't think so, no." Kili said, shifting uncomfortably under her gaze. "I wouldn't let that happen."

"Even though I broke your nose?" She asked, looking at the ground sheepishly.

"Even though you broke my nose."

She attempted to smile at him, revealing the discomfort she was feeling with every action she took. "I guess you're not so bad, Princess."

Kili smiled at her before he knew what he was doing, noting for the first time why his brother truly enjoyed spending so much time with her. She was rather charming, when she wasn't being foul and rude. She was smiling at him, which was odd, and he found that when she smiled he didn't dislike her so much as he normally did. He shook his head, attempting to clear his head. He wasn't supposed to find her charming. He was supposed to want to throw in the nearest river and send her one her way, considering the way she had treated him. He was supposed to hate her, not smile at her.

Kili knew he shouldn't have followed her.

"Would you like to go back to sleep, or would you prefer to join everyone else for breakfast?" Kili asked, sensing that it was time to change the conversation and get away from her before his mind decided that he didn't hate her altogether.

He stood up, dusting off his clothes before he offered her a reluctant hand. She gazed at it for a moment, seeming to debate back and forth before she looked up at him. "It isn't a trick is it?"

"Just take it." Kili said, instantly regretting his decision to be chivalrous.

"No need to get testy. If you wanted to hold my hand, you could've just asked." She seemed to realize what she had just said. She looked away from him for a moment before she took his hand, allowing him to haul her to her feet. And just like that the moment, however slight and uncomfortable it had been, was gone. He didn't even bother to stop the eye roll as he helped her to her feet, immediately releasing her hand and moving away from her to a respectable distance. She shot him an awkward glance before walking away from him, stumbling slightly over the too long dress, leaving him standing where he was wondering just exactly what had happened.

* * *

Emelia did her best to avoid Thorin and Kili for the remainder of the second day the company spent in Rivendell. Thorin, for obvious reasons, was easy to avoid. He spent his time holed up in the room he had been given, often calling up Balin or Oin to discuss things that Emelia was quite sure she cared nothing about. She made it a special point of hers, after she finished her rather manly sized breakfast, to not go within a hundred yards of where Thorin had built his little nest.

Kili was harder to avoid for the simple fact that he and Fili spent their time attached at the hip like a pair of woefully unconnected conjoined twins. Fili had been more excited at breakfast than she would have liked at the notion that she was jumping on the company bandwagon. He had pulled her into a tight hug, rocking her back and forth enthusiastically before he was silenced by a disdainful look from his brother and a rather withering glare from Dwalin.

Kili had been silent for the duration of the meal, shooting her odd glances every now and then, or the occasional scoff when she said something stupid. For the most part, with the notable exception of the times he spoke to her to discuss something logistic about the training that she was inevitably going to have to do, he was the definition of awkward. She had not ever taken him for the type to be so painfully awkward everyone who was present at breakfast picked up on it. But he was and it made Emelia's stomach squirm uncomfortably every time they made eye contact. She didn't like it. She wished he would just say something nasty to her. But he didn't. He didn't smile like he had when they were alone, but he still didn't offer her a reason to mutter angry words about him under her breath like she wanted to so desperately.

The conversation in the hallway wasn't something she was proud of. She wished it had been Fili that she had spoken to. She wouldn't have felt so weird if it had been Fili. As it were, she felt like she had just spilled some of her inner most thoughts to a dwarf who would likely hold it against her the next moment he got. Her face burned with embarrassment and shame every time replayed the words she had spoken to the dark dwarf in her head. She had sounded like a child, which probably didn't help his views on her in the slightest.

Fili had sensed her discomfort early on in the meal, bless him, and offered to take her to the training field before Dwalin and Kili decided to join them.

It wasn't until it was just the two of them standing on the slopping training field that he finally spoke to her, sounding almost weary of the question he was asking.

"I do not mean to pry," He paused shifting awkwardly on his feet. "But why exactly were you and Kili so bleeding awkward at breakfast this morning?"

Emelia looked down at the dewy grass, mulling over the proper response to give him. "He found me after my little tirade at Thorin."

"And he made you feel better?" Fili sounded almost as surprised as Emelia had been.

"Shockingly, yes."

Fili was silent for a moment before he let out a lout chuckle of laughter. "Emmy, that's wonderful."

"How do you figure?"

"This means I don't have to listen to the two of the snipping to me when the other isn't there." Fili said, a large smiling spreading across his bearded face. "I swear to Mahal, he couldn't seem to quiet up about y…"

"He said stuff about me?" Emelia asked, crossing her arms over her chest. "What did he say?"

Fili back tracked almost instantly, offering her a very large and very fake smile. "Nothing that you would be particularly interested in."

Emelia didn't believe him for a second. She took a step towards him, pulling her dress up slightly to avoid tripping over the long skirts. She tried her best to look serious, only to have Fili laugh at her attempts to be intimidating.

"Come on, Fee. I jus…."

"Emelia!"

Both Fili and Emelia turned around at the sound of the high, tinkling voice calling to her from the top of the training field. Emelia immediately felt a smile slide onto her face, while Fili didn't even bother to try and hide the scowl on his tan face. Alunim, now smiling widely at both of them, was making her way towards them, pulling a small figure alone behind her. Alunim had changed into a much more casual dress from the night before, choosing to wear a work dress as opposed to the fancy one she had been wearing to great Emelia in. Her hair had been pulled back from her face giving her the overall look of being very relaxed and casual. It wasn't until she got closer to them that Emelia was able to see who Alunim was bringing with her.

Fern was walking along behind her, holding Alunim's hand in her own small tan one. She was looking around timidly, clutching onto Alunim for dear life.

"Fern?" Emelia moved towards her, hardly believing her eyes. She had not exactly given the two children much thought after they had gone stalking off into the trees. They had gotten away and she hadn't. She had been envious, despite the fact that she had told them to go. She had thought they were going to get to live while she didn't. Once they had disappeared into the trees, she had lost all thought and recollection of them. Frinil and Fern had slipped from her mind just as quickly as they had slipped away from the trolls.

"Fern, what are you doing here?"

Fern let go of Alunim's hand, rushing forward until she caught Emelia around her waist, throwing her back slightly from the force of the embrace.

"She insisted on seeing you once I mentioned something about your hair." Alunim said, smiling slightly as the young girl crushed Emelia with her hug. "She said something about needing to thank you."

"Gossiped more like it." Emelia shot Alunim a look as she set Fern back on the ground.

"That is not the word I would use." Alunim said with a simple quirk of her lips. She glanced around her only to notice Fili for the first time. "Hello." She said softly, taking in his angry stance. "You must be one of Lady Emelia's dwarven companions."

Emelia could tell Fili was annoyed at the fact that Alunim was speaking to him. She glanced down at Fern before she spoke for him, shooting him a wary look. "This is Fili," She paused, realizing that she didn't know his last name.

"Son of Mirwi." Fili finished with a firm look off disliking etched onto his face.

"I am Alunim of the Grey Havens," Alunim smiled widely at him, seemingly oblivious to the look on Fili's face. "At your service."

Fili looked up at the smiling elf, doing his best to remain stoic and angry looking. However, despite his best efforts he was finding it hard to keep his glare directed at the lady elf. "I read that in a book." Alunim said suddenly, forcing Fili shoot Emelia a wary look. He couldn't deny that he wasn't entirely fond of Emelia making friends with the whimsical looking tree lovers. "I never thought I would get to say it."

Emelia glanced back and forth between the two of them, feeling Fern still gripping to her tightly. Fili was eyeing Alunim with so much contempt and disdain, Emelia was surprised she hadn't withered under his gaze. She waited for what felt like an eternity for before she reached over with her elbow, delivering a solid hit to his stomach, forcing him to look over at her in surprise.

"It is fine, Emelia." Alunim said simply, turning her attention back to the red head. "I merely wanted Fern to come visit you. I can see that we interrupted something." She turned her attention back to Fern, gesturing with her hand for the young girl to come back to her. "Fern, I believe your brother is waiting for you to come. It was a true pleasure to meet you Master Dwarf."

Fern moved forward, only to stop and turn back to Emelia and Fili. She opened her mouth, then closed it again, a slight blush on her dark skin. "I am really happy you are alive Miss Emelia. Me and Frinie wanted to say thank you for helping us escape the trolls. We would have been like Mama and…" She paused, small wet tears forming in the corners of her eyes. "Papa if it hadn't been for you." She gave her a watery, childlike smile before turning around and taking Alunim's hand and trotting along behind the elf, leaving Emelia and Fili standing in the training field in silence.

"Way to go Fee," Emelia turned around, slapping him soundly on the arm. "Now the only female friend I made is going to think I run around with a bunch of assholes."

"She's an elf." Fili said simply, crossing his arms over his chest. "You could find far better friends than the likes of her."

"That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard." Emelia said with an eye roll. She walked away from him slightly, tripping ungracefully over her dress. "I mean, is it so hard for you dwarves to be polite to new people you meet?"

"I was nice to you when we first met." Fili said as if it negated his sorry attitude towards Alunim.

When she didn't respond, Fili took it as his cue to change the subject. "What did Fern mean, when she was referring to the trolls?"

Emelia could see Kili and Dwalin making their way towards them, both leaning together to talk under their breath, about what she assumed was her. Kili had changed into more casual clothes, still in blue, and was holding his bow and a quiver of arrows close to his body. Dwalin was holding two axes and a small sword, flexing his hands over them. Emelia could see the identical looks of annoyance and anger on their faces. Kili glanced up at her, seeing her facing away from Fili, and stared at her for a moment before he turned back to Dwalin, muttering something that made the older dwarf laugh in a loud, booming voice. She didn't like the looks on their faces as they glanced up at her. She thought dwarf men were above gossiping, but apparently not. Thorin hadn't been kidding when he had said she would be trained how to defend herself properly. She half wished she had followed after Fern and Alunim, just so that she didn't have to face the fact that in a few days' time she would be leaving Rivendell.

"It was a moment of bravery, Fee, that isn't likely to happen again."


	15. The Sword and Sewing Room

"Come on, Lass. That is more pathetic than I would expect from you."

Emelia had expected as much. Dwalin had been shouting at her over and over again for the past three hours. He had been, as she had expected, more than a little verbally abusive in his attempts to assess about how much a liability she was going to inevitably be. They had attempted an axe first, which Emelia found to appallingly heavy and hard to wield, before moving onto bow and arrow. She had thought she might have been good at that, considering she had tried it when she was a reluctant participant in gym class. Apparently archery with dwarves was different than P.E. archery.

She had shot a stone, the base of a tree, a bench, and almost an elf by the time Dwalin told them to move onto using a pair of sparring swords.

"This is the worst attempt I've ever seen at self-defense." Dwalin snapped again, forcing Emelia to look over at him from her spot in front of a very amused looking Fili.

She gripped the sparring sword in her hands, feeling it slip slightly from the sweat that was dripping down her rolled up dress sleeves. Apparently the dwarves didn't think it was so odd for her to be sparring in a dress, despite the fact that she had tripped over it at least ten times in the last three hours. The dress stuck to her in all of the wrong places, making dark green stick out against the normal color of the once nice dress. She had attempted to braid her hair back from her face, only to have little curly pieces flying all around her now ruddy face.

"This would be easier if I wasn't in a bloody dress." Emelia snapped, fixing the bald dwarf with a very hateful look. "Why don't you try it for a while?"

Dwalin let out a loud snort, turning his attention towards Fili. "Give her another go."

Emelia looked over at Fili, barely allowing the tip of the practice sword to touch the ground. Her shoulders were on fire from all of the weapons she had cycled through. Her hands were covered in blisters from the roughness of the handle of the sword she held in her hands. Her legs, which had been taken out from underneath her what felt like a hundred times, ached like she had just run a full marathon in the middle of winter. Her back was so sore she was surprised it was still able to hold up her weight.

"Come on, Fee." Emelia whined, letting her sword dip even lower. "You're just going to 'kill' me again."

"That is an understatement." Kili said under breath, earning a dark look from Emelia.

Fili looked at her for a moment, glancing back towards Dwalin briefly, before he lifted his sword up again. She let out a heavy sigh, rolling her shoulders despite the soreness, and lifted up her own, moving into the stance that Dwalin had drilled into her head at the very beginning of their day. She tried to make her face look intimidating as she stared down the blonde dwarf. He merely smirked at her, before moving towards her slowly.

Emelia had been rather thankful that she hadn't fought Kili very much in her training session. He was too rough and quick for her to keep up with him. He had knocked her down more times than she could count before putting her through the ringer again. It wasn't until Fili offered to spar with her for a while that she finally got a break from the relentless over and over again that Kili had put her through. Kili had been oddly quiet during the duration of her training session. He did not offer many pointers and he did not speak to her more than vitally necessary. He offered snide one-liners, but other than that he kept to himself. He wouldn't even look at her half the time, not that she was going to complain about it.

Fili was quick in his first strike, forcing Emelia to stumble to the side in an attempt to avoid yet another training bruise. She turned herself to make eye contact again, which Dwalin had shouted at her at every single turn, lifting her sword up again just in time to block Fili's blow. The force of his swipe sent vibrations up her arms, making her shoulder twinge with pain again. She immediately stepped back from him, stumbling yet again over her dress.

"That dress is going to get you killed." Fili noted, standing up straighter. "Come here."

Emelia eyed him for a moment before she walked towards him, dropping her practice sword to the ground. He beckoned her over with his hand, reaching down to his belt to pull out one of the many knives he carried on his person. He bent down in front of her, ignoring the look he got from her with her crossed arms, before using the knife to cut the entire bottom off of her dress. Emelia opened her mouth to protest, only to be cut off by a look from both Dwalin and Kili.

She felt her face heat up with the thought that there would be no hiding of her hairy legs anymore. But then again, she supposed the dwarves couldn't really say anything about body hair.

"Are we finally ready to proceed?" Dwalin did not sound happy as he addressed them. Fili stood up, pulling the scrap of dress fabric with him. He held it out in front of his face, smirking over at her before he threw it at his brother, earning a loud curse in an odd language that Emelia didn't understand.

"Alunim is not going to be happy with you." Emelia whispered, moving away to pick up her discarded sword. "I imagine she can be quite intimidating when angry." Emelia wasn't entirely sure if she believed that. Alunim looked and sounded as if she had never even yelled at a person, let alone done anything about it if they made her mad.

"Do I look like I fear lady elves?" Fili asked with a loud laugh. He held up his sword, glancing down at her revealed ankles and calves. "Besides, I t…"

Kili let out a loud cough, shooting his brother a dark look. "Just spar with her, Fili. It is past noon and Thorin wants to know if she is going to get us all killed."

Emelia had to fight the urge to hit him upside the head. She had been trying her best. She honestly had. She hadn't given up, as much as she had wanted to, but he didn't really see that. All he saw her as was a hindrance, which she admitted she was. She had been trying, however, not to be. She had managed to block Fili more than once, a lot more than once actually, yet Kili did not see that. All he saw was her struggling and hindering. She had had just about enough of it. At least Fili had the decency to make her feel better about the fact that she was a complete and utter bump on the proverbial log. She couldn't help but hate the look on Kili's face as he regarded her with a very poorly hidden look of annoyance and utter lackluster at what she had been able to do.

"Let's go again, Fee."

"You seem tire…"

She lifted her up her sword, shooting Kili one more dark look before she turned back to Fili.

She allowed him to make the first advance towards her. She held up her sword, blocking his blow before she jumped to the side, swinging her own sword around in the attempt to catch him off guard. She had just managed to catch him in the side when he shoved his sword between her own and his body. He brought his arm up and grabbed her by the shoulder before spinning her around and bringing his own sword up to her neck in one swift movement. Emelia had just managed to catch him in the stomach with her elbow, the first impressive thing she had done all morning, when a soft voice interrupted them from behind Dwalin, forcing Emelia and Fili to relax from their defensive positions.

"What in the name of all that is good happened to your dress?" Emelia felt her entire body tense up at the unexpected interruption. Alunim was standing off to the side, eyeing her torn dress with a look of shock and disdain. She trailed her eyes over to the discarded fabric. She had her arms crossed over her chest, regarding the dwarves with annoyance. "That was one of my favorites."

"What is the she-elf doing here?" Dwalin snapped, flexing his always intimidating arm muscles. "We're in the middle of something, elf."

Alunim looked over at Dwalin, not even bothering to look upset by his words. Instead her face had a smirk on it. "My business with Lady Emelia is my own." She looked over to Emelia, shooting her small smirk before she turned back to Fili. "Can I steal her away from you?"

"I do not see for what purpose." Kili said suddenly, drawing Alunim's attention over to him. He was looking back and forth between Alunim and Emelia, arms crossed so tightly over his chest, Alunim could see the muscles on his arms underneath his rolled up sleeves tensing up. He did not look impressed, excited, or even remotely pleased to see Alunim standing there.

"You will have her back by the end of day meal." Alunim said simply. She saw Kili tense up when she addressed him, forcing her to fight the eye roll. She had read and heard about the stubbornness of dwarves, but she had never expected it to be so profound. It was almost startling to see the way the dwarves looked at her with their arms crossed and their jaws firm, their anger never yielding. "Do not fret, Master Dwarf, your lady friend shall be safe with me."

Emelia could only imagine the look of horror on Kili's face when Alunim referred to her as his lady friend. She imagined it mirrored her own with wide eyes and pursed lips. She shuffled her feet on the ground awkwardly, trying to avoid making eye contact with Kili or Alunim. Fili let out a small laugh, despite himself, moving over to clap Kili loudly on the back. His younger brother moved slightly under the pressure of the hit, pushing him back with his elbow.

"You can take her." Kili said, moving slightly away from his brother, shooting him a dark look. "We're done with her anyway. She's about as useless as we originally thought."

"No need to sugar coat it for my sake, Kili." Emelia snapped, moving towards Alunim. "I'm sure I can manage the truth."

"Don't listen to him Emmy. You actually did really well for your first time."

"Thanks, Fee." Emelia said over her shoulder as Alunim began to pull her along.

Alunim reached her hand down to Emelia's shoulder, pulling her along. She sensed the undeniable tension between Emelia and the dark headed dwarf the moment she walked up to collect Emelia. She had seen him watching Emelia on her way over to them, she had seen he conflict on his face and spilling out from his body language. Emelia had glared at him every chance she got, but for some reason Alunim couldn't help but feel there was more to the story than just being annoyed at Emelia's obvious lack of self-defense skills.

Emelia gave Kili one last look at Kili before following after Alunim. She was clenching and unclenching her hands as she followed after Alunim, mumbling expletives under her breath and stomping her feet angrily into the ground as they made their way up the sloping lawn towards the halls of Rivendell. Alunim thought she heard the distinct sound of her cursing the dark headed dwarf to some place she didn't quite understand as well as condemning him to spend the rest of his days surrounded by something that Alunim didn't quite wish to repeat.

"He is very handsome for a dwarf." Alunim said once the two were far enough away from the three dwarves that they wouldn't over hear them.

"And he's got such a sparkling personality to go with that pretty face of his."

Alunim let out a small laugh, placing her hand onto her back to lead her towards one of the many rooms that lined the hallways of Rivendell. Most of them had appeared unused to Emelia in the times that she had been led through there. The room was occupied by only a couple of tables and a few benches and more fabric than Emelia would have thought possible. They all looked like the best quality and make, in soft browns, blues, greens and reds. There was a small bit of purple fabric laying on one of the tables. There was a very tall and willowy looking elf sitting behind one of the tables, sewing and humming to herself. She had her brown hair thrown over her shoulder, revealing the top of the simple brown work dress that she wore. She glanced up when the two of them walked in, offering a serene smile before she returned to her diligent work.

"The leader of your company requested, sort of, that some traveling clothes be made for you as quickly as possible." Alunim said, gesturing to the garments being made by the diligent elf. "I was wondering if you have a preference for color."

Emelia moved forward, placing her hands on the soft supple feeling fabrics.

"You don't have to do this." Emelia said, inwardly loving the feel of the soft green fabric she was holding.

"It is no trouble." The sewing elf said suddenly. "I find I quite enjoy make the smaller garments."

She was smiling at Emelia with her brown eyes wide and warm. She looked so genuine it made Emelia feel instantly bad for the abrupt and rude way Thorin had inevitably treated them both. She imagined, with his never yielding paranoia, that he wouldn't have told them much. He would have just demanded that the clothes be made and left it at that. He would have demanded they make them like the two elves worked for him. The thought made her even angrier at the surly dwarf.

"Obviously, green looks good on you," Alunim began, holding up a soft, but sturdy looking pile of fabric. "But I think you seem more like a blue person."

"I think purple would suit her, My Lady." The sewing elf said, smiling slightly at the two of them. "It is a shade that won't clash with her hair."

"I think you are right, Gewinthiel."

Emelia felt the familiar knot in her chest returning as she looked at the two elves debating over the colors that she would wear while she was accompanying the dwarves. She did not like Thorin going around demanding that clothes be made for her. She didn't even want to go on the stupid quest. She would have much preferred to keep wearing borrowed dresses and spending her time in Rivendell than being dragged around like she was less than a person. She felt the tears welling up in her eyes as she looked at all of the fabrics lying about the room. She pictured all of the clothes they would, and could, be made into. She pictured them being transformed into clothes like the dwarves wore. She pictured herself being forced into them and there was nothing she could do about it.

"Emelia?" Alunim placed a hand on her shoulder, causing her to jump at the sudden contact.

"I don't want to go." The words spilled out of her mouth before she could stop them.

"With the dwarves?"

She nodded her head, sinking down onto one of the piles of fabric. She felt the green dress shifting underneath her, revealing that she was still soaked with sweat from her training. The sewing elf, Gewinthiel, stood up quietly, excusing herself with a small bow of her head, leaving Alunim and Emelia alone in the room.

"I don't want to go back into the wild. I want to stay here."

"They are making you go with them?" Alunim said slowly, sitting down next to Emelia and placing a hand on her shoulder for comfort. "And you do not wish to."

"I would rather gnaw off my own arm than be forced to go with them."

"That is drastic and alarming." Alunim said, her voice shaking slightly at the thought.

"It's a metaphor." Emelia said, sinking back against the wall. "I just want to go home, Alunim."

"Where are you from?"

She had been pondering the best way to answer that question ever since she found out that she wasn't in Alaska any more. She had figured out, by process of elimination, that she wasn't even really in the United States anymore. To her knowledge, there was no place that had elves, dwarves and hobbits as part of the general populace. She was tired of being looked at like she was insane. Thorin had thought she was utterly batty when she had gone on about Alaska. She wasn't about to repeat that mistake with someone who had literally been nothing but nice to her.

"I come from the north." Emelia said, hoping that Alunim got the hint to take her word for it.

"Is it beautiful?"

"Like nothing I'll ever see again more than likely."

Alunim studied her face for a moment before spoke in a voice so soft, Emelia had to struggle to hear her. "You do not have to go with them. You don't have to do anything you do not want to do."

"I have to." Emelia said sadly. "They found me in the forest. They saved me."

"That does not mean you owe them."

"I know too much about what they are planning on doing. I know where they are going and Thorin isn't going to let me just slip away with that information. He said he was going to drag me along with them if he had to."

Alunim did not speak for what felt like a hundred years to Emelia. She sat in her spot, back up straight and elegant like Emelia had always seen her, staring straight ahead at the piles and piles of fabric. She held her pale hands in her lap, squeezing them together tightly as she worked her jaw in concentration. She shook her head occasionally before she turned back to look at Emelia, her eyes shining with sadness as she looked over at the red head's face.

"I do not know if I can help you." Alunim said in a quiet voice. "I am just a healer's apprentice. I am not in the position to start even more conflicts between elves and dwarves."

"I don't want any more adventures, Alunim. I like it here. You are the first person, besides Fee and Balin, who's been nice to me."

Alunim looked thoughtful for a moment before she spoke, placing a hand on Emelia's shoulder. "I cannot stop them. But I can tell you that adventures might not be as bad as they seem."

"Alunim, I've been held prisoner, tortured, forced to sit in my own filth, starved, beaten, forced to witness cannibalism, chased, verbally abused, yelled at, distrusted, chased by wargs, tackled to the ground, and head-butted in the nose. All of this on top missing my family more than I have ever missed anything in the entire world. I don't want an adventure. I don't want to go trekking through the wild with a bunch of smelly dwarves who all would have much rather left me where they found me. I don't want to go with them and they obviously don't want me to be within a hundred miles of them. I just want to go home, but I sure as hell can't do that now."

"Emelia, I…"

"I just want to stay here."

"All bad things have to come to an end at some point, Emelia. I trust you know that."

Emelia stood up, turning around to face the startled elf. Her hands shook as she began to pace back and forth in the sewing room. There was a dark spot from where she had been sitting; marring the beautiful pile of fabric, indicating that her sweat still hadn't dried. Normally she would have been embarrassed, but she found, like she was finding more and more in this new place, that she didn't really care. Alunim wasn't going to say anything.

"My bad things haven't come to an end yet Alunim. It's never ending. I feel like I'm stuck on an endless loop of suck and I can't do anything about it."

Alunim stood up, moving forward to reach her long arms around her and pull her into a tight hug. She paid no mind to the fact that Emelia was soaking and stunk worse than anything. She felt Emelia crying into her chest, making Alunim's entire body shake. She tried to get her to quiet down, only to be met by more body wracking sobs.

"Emmy, Thori…" Emelia and Alunim stepped back from each other, looking over at the now open door. Fili was looking at them with raised eyebrows and pursed lips. "What did you do to her?" He asked Alunim suddenly, taking in the tears that were shinning on Emelia's now very red face. She hurriedly reached her shaking hands up to her face, wiping the moisture off with the back of her hands. She sniffed slightly before she fixed Fili with a steely glare.

"Stop being so damn paranoid, Fili."

She stalked past him, bumping into him roughly, before leaving the room with a loud bang of the door.

"What did you do to her?" Fili asked again harshly, crossing his arms over his chest.

"If I were you, Master Dwarf, I would start to look at what those in your company have done to her."

* * *

Alunim had been correct when she said she couldn't do much to help her. She had come to visit Emelia after she had stormed out on her and Fili, holding a pile of freshly made clothes and a small leather bag. Alunim had conversed with Fili, rather heatedly before she too had stalked out. She had tried to get him to tell her where they were going, only to be met with anger and threats. It was like talking to a wall. And Alunim had decided, considering she wasn't clever enough to find a way out for Emelia, that she didn't have time for the stubbornness of dwarves.

Emelia had shrunk back into her bed ever more when she saw what Alunim was holding, pulling her covers over her face in a huff. She had refused to join the dwarves for dinner, sighting that she was too sore from training. She imagined that they saw right through that. Fili had attempted to come and talk to her, only to be shoved out of her room with a loud smack to the arm and a slamming door.

Thorin, accompanied by Dwalin, had stopped by to tell her that they would be leaving in the morning. She had said something nasty that resulted in Dwalin saying something rather violent. She had thought it best not to argue with them after that.

Balin had come by once, smiling at her and offering her words of soothing and advice.

Bilbo had been kind enough to bring her some bread and cheese.

Alunim had been sitting in the chair by the window for what felt like an eternity before she disappeared and returned holding a long slender package.

She placed it on the bed gingerly, removing the leather fabric that covered it.

"I thought you might do better with an elvish weapon." She said simply, forcing Emelia to peek out from underneath her covers. "It is lighter and more elegant."

"I can't use it." Emelia said with only her face sticking out of the thick covers. "I'm rubbish at fighting. I'll probably stab myself before I do any damage that's actually helpful."

"Then I suppose it's a good thing you have such handsome dwarves there to protect you."

Emelia snorted, finally emerging from underneath the blanket fully.

"Dwarves don't really seem like your type. You seem like you like them tall, blonde and handsome."

"If you happen to come across one of those, send me word." Alunim said with a laugh, flipping her long hair behind her back. "Although, I don't think you'll find any men like that where you are going."

"You know?"

"No. But I can imagine it isn't the best place." Alunim mumbled simply, shrugging her slender shoulders.

Emelia nodded, catching sight of the blade on the covers. She scooted towards the blade, gingerly picking it up and holding it in front of her face. It was beautiful with its deep handle with veins of blue flowing through it as well as onto the bottom of the blade. It felt like air as she held it in front of her face. It fit in her hand perfectly, curving into her palm.

"My brother gave me that as part of a set. I thought it might suit you."

"You have a brother?" Emelia asked, feeling her chest constrict at the thoughtfulness of the gesture.

"His name is Rumil. He is quite a bit older than me." Alunim said simply, moving towards the bundle of clothes she had brought with her. "He is in charge of my home city while I am here learning to be a healer. He gave me the set of blades as a gift for my sixth hundredth birthday."

Emelia immediately dropped the blade. "Six hundred?" She fixed the elf with a dry look. "You barely look twenty, if that."

"I assure you, I am six hundred and forty." She laid out the clothes, placing her hand on her chin. She surveyed them for a moment before she began to pair them off, folding them neatly in little bundles. She hurried over to the door, dipping outside for a moment before she came back in holding Emelia's boots and her bra in addition to her now clean smelling clothes. She placed them on the chair that she had been occupying before she turned back around.

"I thought you might like to have something to reme…" Alunim trailed off, pausing in her shuffling of clothes around as she stuffed them into the bag. "I am sorry I couldn't think of anything to help you. I had thought about approaching Lord Elrond, but he has been holed up in a meeting for days. Only Lindir was allowed to interrupt. I suppose I could have been more forceful…"

"Do you miss your brother?" Emelia asked, changing the subject whens he saw the regret on Alunim's face. She did not want her feeling bad for something she had no control over. Her entire body felt small and useless as she watched Alunim stuff the leather pack with odds and ends.

"There are times when I miss him terribly. But more often than not, I find I appreciate the people I find myself surrounded by." Alunim said, not looking up from the bag. She left out a pair of black leggings, a purple tunic, and cream undershirt, as well as a thick jacket that Emelia was quite sure was going to make her look like she had gained about a hundred pounds in five minutes. She folded them up and placed them on the chair, setting a pair of long stockings next to them before she turned to take a seat on the edge of the bed.

"You could do worse than the dwarves, Em." Alunim said simply. She told herself she wasn't going to share what Fili had said. He had been stubborn, but she could hear and see the undeniable care in his voice and on his face when he had berated Alunim in the privacy of the sewing room. "As smelly and loud as they are, they are fiercely loyal to their women. They won't let anything happen to you."

"I could do better. Besides, they have made it clear that I am not one of them."

"Perhaps." Alunim said with a smile. "But then again, perhaps not."

"I wish you could go with us when they kidnap me again." Emelia said, folding her hands in her lap.

Alunim let out a small laugh. "I do not think I am the adventuring type."

"Me either."

* * *

Alunim paused in her story, feeling her chest tighten as she got to the point in the story she hated the most. Gimli was looking up at her with an odd look on his face when he heard her voice trail off. Wenny was playing with the end of her mother's dress, lifting it up and down in her small hands, completely oblivious to the way her mother wrung her hands together. Gimli reached a hand out to Alunim, placing it comfortingly on her arm as she looked down at her daughter from her chair by the fire.

"Does she still have your sword, Naneth?"

Alunim looked down at her daughter, feeling her lips tighten up slightly. "Yes, she does. I wouldn't ever take it back from her."

"Why didn't you stop the dwarves from making her go with them?" Wenny asked, finally looking up from the fabric of her mother's dress.

"I couldn't." Alunim said simply. "I should have however. Maybe then she…"

"Liluwen, I think you should give your mother a break." Legolas appeared out of nowhere, startling the three that were sitting by the fire. "You have missed out on dinner. Again."

Wenny stood up, drawn by the thought of food. She turned to Gimli, fixing him with a wide smile. "I know you are hungry Gimli. Dwarves are always hungry. Come with me."

"Right you are, Miss Wenny."

Gimli normally would have argued, but seeing the look on the two older elves faces, he took it as his cue to escort the little princess to her long overdue meal. He stood up heavily from his chair, shaking out his sore limbs from sitting for so long. He stomped his feet to get the feeling back into them before he turned to Wenny, extending out his arm to lead her out of the family hall that Alunim had told her part of the story in. Wenny immediately grabbed his coat covered arm, before pulling him out of the hall, completely oblivious to the mood she was leaving her parents in.

Legolas waited until they were out of earshot before turning back to his blank faced wife.

"You never told me about the sword." He said, sitting himself down into the chair that Gimli had vacated.

"I try not to think about it too much." Alunim looked over at him, shrugging her shoulders. He reached out a hand, placing it on her fire lit face. She leaned into his hand, smiling slightly at his touch. "Wenny seems to like the story thus far."

Legolas let out a small laugh. "Would you expect anything different?" He scooted his chair closer to hers, drawing her closer to him. "You are a wonderful story teller."

"You are making me blush." She said, feeling her face heat up.

"It is nice to know I still can after all these years."

He pulled her towards him until she was perched on his lap, wrapping her arms around his shoulders. He placed a light kiss on her exposed neck, earning a reluctant laugh from her. He pulled her even closer to him, planting kisses along her neck until his mouth arrived at the base of her jaw. "I haven't seen you much in the time you have been telling the story."

"Wenny is stubborn and doesn't let me leave until she is too tired to stay awake."

"Like mother like daughter." He said into her neck, peppering kisses until he came to her mouth. He kissed her firmly, wrapping his hands in her hair and behind her neck. He felt her smile into his mouth, running her hands up his chest.

"Just wait until she hears about your meeting with Em." Alunim said against his mouth, her breath ghosting across his face. He laughed, sending vibrations from his chest into her own. He reached his hand down from her neck, wrapping it around her back, shifting her so that she was flush against him.

"That will be more than interesting."

"Especially after she hears about the kick to the stomach and the punch to the face."

Legolas leaned back from her slightly, fixing her with a stern look. "I told you, she got lucky with those hits."

"I'm sure it was just luck." She said with a laugh, leaning towards him again, planting feverish kisses on his face and mouth.


	16. A Pair of Noodges

The first week after the company left Rivendell Emelia discovered that hiking through the mountains was nothing like the movies portrayed it to be. It was miserable, at best, and depressingly monotonous. She had spent the first couple of days glaring at the ground, and the back of Thorin's head, like they had personally offended her. Her back hurt constantly from carrying the leather bag Alunim had supplied her, her feet felt like they had been rubbed raw, and her skin felt disgusting from not being able to shower or bathe properly .

All in all, she found had found it hard to not go running back to Rivendell every time she wasn't being watched by some dwarf or another.

The first night they had not been in Rivendell Emelia had thought she wasn't going to make it until morning. When she had slept in the wild after the trolls had held her captive, the only reason she had been able to fall asleep was pure unadulterated exhaustion. She hadn't noticed the sounds that plagued her mind, the never ending paranoia and panic that seemed to engulf her entire being, making it impossible for her to even attempt to sleep. The sounds of insects and the howls and calls of animals were maddening, filling her mind up with horrible visions and images. Last she had checked, sleeping outside was supposed to be peaceful and relaxing, not utterly terrifying.

She was finally able to sleep through the night on their third day being away from Rivendell. She had kept herself curled up into a tight ball, pulling the jacket Alunim had given her so tightly over her face she had found it hard to breathe at times. She didn't mind. She would rather have it be hard to breathe than face the alternative of looking out at the eyes of the animals and seeing the insects dancing over the dying fire. When she had woken up at the first light of morning, her body and mind had tricked her into thinking she was back home. She had almost burst into tears when she realized she had been woefully, and depressingly, wrong.

The dwarves had not seemed to mind the trekking through the mountains. In fact, more often than not, they seemed to downright enjoy themselves. Bombur made them practically gourmet meals ever night; whistling to himself happily every time he pulled out his large cooking pot. Bofur never stopped smiling, even when it had down poured on the fourth day, soaking all of them straight to the bone. Nori had been pickpocketing the other dwarves for fun, saying cheeky comments accompanied by a large smile whenever they finally noticed something was missing. Dori had brewed tea for all of those who would take it every single night like they were on some bloody day trip in the Swiss Alps.

Bilbo seemed to be the only one who was just as miserable as Emelia. He kept to himself, shuffling his large hairy feet in the gooey dirt every time they stopped for the night. He had eyed her briefly, giving her a look that she assumed was supposed to be sympathetic, before pulling his own cloak over his face, effectively shutting himself off from the rest of the group. He did that for three solid days before he finally managed to join the dwarves by their fires and talk to them like they weren't his least favorite people in the world.

Emelia was rather impressed by the hobbit. He kept up with the dwarves, despite his tiny size, and somehow managed to find a way to do it with no small amount of grace and refinement that seemed to be seriously lacking amongst the other companions.

She still hadn't managed to speak to anyone but Fili, Balin, and Ori without wanting to hit something.

When they hiked she kept close to Fili, allowing him the liberty of saying one-liners only so that she wouldn't have to face the silence of the wild alone.

Everything seemed so much worse to Emelia after she had seen the luxury and comfort of Rivendell. The civilized nature of the soft sheets and warm baths seemed like they had just been a cruel trick, dangled in front of her only to be snatched away as soon as she had finally started to feel comfortable in her new surroundings. She found she missed the way the elves went about things, the manner in which they conducted their everyday lives. She missed Alunim.

She kept those thoughts to herself. She had seen the way the dwarves regarded the elves. She wasn't stupid. She had seen the way Fili had looked at Alunim when she had come to visit her on the training field. It was apparent to her that the dwarves hated the elves, and in most cases, those feelings were returned with vigor. She imagined the dwarves wouldn't like to hear that she much preferred the company of elves to them. Some of them, specifically Ori, would be downright offended and hurt.

That spurt of consideration didn't stop her from hating every moment of every day, however.

"Emmy, do you think you could manage to pry the effervescent and perpetual frown from your pretty face long enough to come look at this?"

Emelia looked around, folding her arms over her chest. Fili was slightly down the steep, slippery hill that the company found themselves on, smiling cheekily up at her through the haze of mist that covered them all. He had his right hand rested on the hilt of his sword, gesturing with his left hand out to the tree line that she had stomped past in her perpetual state of annoyance. He looked at her for a moment, seeing the stubborn look slide onto her face, before he trudged up the hill to grab her arm and pull her back down.

He gestured with his arm, pointing out over the tree line towards one of the far flung mountains with a smile. Emelia followed his gaze, expecting something awe-inspiring or majestic, only to be met with the sight of a blurry, lackluster rainbow peeking out from the clouds in the distance. The colors looked muted in the hazy sky, making the overall sight unappealing and less than spectacular. She turned to look at Fili, seeing his proud smile. She rolled her eyes, turned on her heel and started back up the hill.

"Oh come on Emmy." Fili called after her, hurrying to catch up with her. "I thought you would think it was pretty."

"Because I'm a girl?"

"Well, yes." Fili didn't even bother to look bashful as she rolled her eyes at him when he leveled himself with her.

"Nice try Fee."

"Emelia, you've been moping around for days." He paused, lowering his voice slightly. The rest of the dwarves had glanced over at the two briefly, shooting her annoyed looks. Ori eyed them carefully for a moment, offering Emelia a careful, shy smile before he too turned away from them. Emelia watched their retreating backs before she turned to Fili. "You can't stay mad at all of us forever."

"I can try." Emelia said with a shrug of her shoulders. Her pack shifted painfully, straining her muscles and sore skin. "I think you'll find I'm uniquely qualified to stay as mad as long as I want. Especially if you keep trying to show me flouncy rainbows."

Fili let out a snort of laughter, placing his hand on her sore shoulder. "If I didn't know any better, I would have thought you were a dwarf."

"The horror." She nudged him playfully, giving him a slight smile. "Come on, Thorin is grouchy enough without me holding us back."

Her smile faltered ever so slightly when she glanced back up at how much further they had to go for the day. Her legs ached just as the sight of the hilly surface looming in front of them. She slumped, letting her face sink back into a scowl. She had found it was easier to scowl. Smiling involved pretending she wasn't miserable. And miserable was an emotion she was all too familiar with and willing to let her mind experience.

The moisture in the air was sticking to her face, making her hair even curlier. Fili's blonde hair was beginning to curl, making him look even more disheveled than he normally did. The wind had his mustache braids, as ridiculous as Emelia thought they were, swinging about wildly. All of the dwarves hair and beards were steadily increasing in mess and size from the messy mist and steady wind that washed over them constantly. Even Thorin's hair was messy, which brought Emelia a very large amount of amusement at seeing him try and swipe it out of his mist covered face. At least if she was going to have to go with them, they would be as miserable as her for the most part. Of course, the miserable weather didn't seem to stop Fili from trying incessantly to get her to stop glaring at everything and anything she passed by.

She had come to the miserable conclusion, after days that felt like years, that she was so far from Bear Grylls it wasn't even funny. Emelia had taken the fact that she couldn't stand the mud coating her entire front and caking her boots as irrefutable proof that she wasn't meant for the lifestyle that went along with trekking through the wilderness.

Fili, upon seeing the look on Emelia's face, decided to keep his mouth shut for the remainder of their journey that day. She kept her arms held close to her sides, only moving them to wipe the large amount of sweat and precipitation from her face. Just past midday, when the mist didn't show any sign of stopping, Emelia had stripped herself of the thick coat she had been given. Fili could see her entire back was covered in dark stains from where she had been sweating from the humidity of the hilly pass. She kept her coat thrown over her shoulder, using its sleeve to wipe her brow almost constantly. Fili had never seen her hair look so curly and wild. It confused him as to why she was sweating so much at first, until he remembered that she was, in fact, human. Humans couldn't handle changes in temperature as easily as dwarves and elves could.

* * *

When the company stopped for the evening on the fifth night Emelia immediately threw herself to the ground, leaning back into her pack. She dropped her head into her hands, running her fingers over her still moist eyelids. She flinched slightly at the noises coming from the woods that surrounded the small clearing the dwarves had chosen to make camp in, but other than that she made no indication of intent to speak to anyone.

The company was as rowdy and rambunctious as always when they all settled down from the long day of hiking. The fire, which had been a monster to try and start with the wet firewood, crackled and danced pleasantly, drawing all of the men, and Emelia, even closer to it. The dwarves, completely nonchalant about the fact that there was a female present, had stripped themselves of their outer layers in an attempt to get them to dry properly before they molded. Or at least, that's what their excuse was. She imagined they just wanted to be free of all of the moist, sticky layers.

They all pulled off their grubby boots and stockings, bustling around one another to stick their large feet by the fire. Emelia, doing her best to avoid making eye contact with the atrocious amount of toe-fro, followed suit, ignoring the surprised looks she got when she joined them for the first time since they had set out from Rivendell.

"Well, by my beard. It seems the Lassie has finally decided to join us." It was Bofur who spoke, pausing in his whittling to fix her with a very snarky and sneaky look.

"Leave her be, Bofur." Balin said, scooting over to allow her a spot next to the fire. She took the seat only to be polite. She could already feel the heat from the blaze; making uncomfortable beads of sweat spring up on the back of her neck and lower back.

"How are you fairing, Lass?" It was Gloin who spoke, letting out a rather large puff of odd smelling smoke from his eccentric pipe. "You slipped on the grass less today, I noticed."

"As well as I could be, I guess."

Emelia did not like that she took her anger out of her situation on the dwarves. They were not their leader. They did not make her come. Individually, with the exception of Kili, Thorin, and Dwalin, the dwarves were altogether a pleasant sort to be around. She imagined she would have rather in enjoyed their company fully and completely if they had met in different circumstances. They were kind to her, mostly, and she hated that she found their company to be so undeniably wrong. She did her best to keep those thoughts from showing on her face, however.

"First time away from home, I am assuming." Gloin leaned forward slightly, pulling his large bare feet up so that he could rest his right elbow on his leg.

Emelia looked at him for a moment, fully aware of all of the eyes on her. "First time."

"You know, I don't think you ever told us what you were doing with those trolls." Nori said suddenly, earning a few nods of agreement from those sitting around him. The camp was silent, with only the sounds of the fire and persistent bugs interrupting it, before Emelia finally spoke.

"I was grabbed by them while I was sleeping." Even as she said it, she felt the ghost feeling of the troll's hand wrapping itself around her middle, making it slightly harder to breathe. "I didn't even see them coming."

"What of your Pa, or your Ma?" Oin asked, lifting his ear trumpet up so that he could hear her answer. "Surely they didn't let you go out here alone. You're such a tiny little thing."

Emelia looked down at herself. She had never seen herself as tiny. It seemed that her time with the trolls had taken its toll on her body more than she had anticipated. She felt bones that were normally covered by a layer of stodgy flab that she could never really seem to get rid of. Her mother had always said it was insulation. Now that the little layer that had always been there was gone, she found she missed it. She felt slight, sickly, as she looked at herself compared to the bulky dwarves.

"I don't really know." Emelia said, honestly, watching the fire with a sudden unyielding interest.

"You are an orphan?"

"Ori! You don't just ask a stranger."

Emelia managed a small smile, still keeping her eyes on the fire. Orphan wasn't exactly a word she liked to think about. It sounded harsh and final. However, harsh and final seemed to be her situation. Unless her parents appeared out of nowhere, she wasn't likely to see them, or her brother, again. She refused to think of herself as an orphan, however. They were still out there; they were still a family that was hers. Just because they weren't together didn't make them not hers and her not theirs.

"No, I'm not an orphan." She said, finally managing to make eye contact with the very nervous looking Ori. "Not really."

"Then why were you alone when those trolls found you?" Bilbo had been silent for the conversation, choosing instead to observe rather than speak his mind. He had gone still when the topic of being an orphan had been breached. He himself was far too old to be considered one, but that didn't stop him from internally faltering at the use of the word. He imagined it was quite the same for their female companion. He had not meant to ask her so tactlessly, but the words had just slipped out before he could grab a hold of them.

"She may have been alone then, but she's not alone anymore."

Emelia was not surprised that it had been Fili to interrupt the horrendously uncomfortable line of questioning. She had felt his eyes on her the entire time, making her feel even shiftier. He was opposite from her, sitting close to his brother, smoking on his pipe. He had pulled his hair back from his face, managing to tame his hair in a way that she had not yet figured out. Kili was looking at her, eyes narrowed as if he was sizing her up. His arms were resting on his knees heavily, making him look much more menacing that Emelia knew him to be.

"I was alone because I was, and am still, terribly lost." Emelia said, standing up heavily from her spot. Her muscles ached with the movement. "And you all fixed that the best way you could. You didn't mean to, but you did, so I guess I should say thank you. My mother would be appalled if she knew it hadn't said it. So, thank you. All of you." She moved towards her bedroll, which they all noted she kept much farther away from theirs than was necessary.

All of the dwarves watched her as she made her way over to her bedroll, throwing back the thin layer of blanket, before burying herself in it, covering her entire face from view. They could see bits of her long hair sticking out from the sides and could see it moving from her trying to get comfortable. They watched her squirm around for what felt like ages before she finally stilled herself, the movement that was her breathing becoming steady from what they assumed was sleep.

"What was that?" Dwalin asked, glancing around at the confused dwarves on either side of him.

"I haven't the foggiest." Balin said. "Although, I think we should all take it to heart that she said thank you."

"At least she didn't burst into tears again." Kili said, shrugging his shoulders. "I swear she has more water in her eyes than the silly dwarf women back home."

"Mother would not be happy to hear you say that." Fili said simply, giving his brother a playful elbow in the stomach.

"She also wouldn't be happy to hear you fancy a human." Kili shot back, effectively silencing the camp around them. The mood, which had been relaxed and calm, suddenly felt so awkward and tense many of the dwarves shifted uncomfortably on their feet.

Fili immediately stood up at Kili's words, ignoring the looks of surprise they got from those around them. The two brothers were glaring at each other so heatedly the fire seemed cool by comparison. Fili folded his arms over his chest, moving slightly away from his brother. Kili, mirroring his brother's face clenched his hands into fists, discarding his pipe onto the ground with a small plop in the moist grass. The camp was silent for a moment, watching the two of them glare at each other until Thorin finally had the sense to put an end to it.

"Enough. Both of you." Thorin stood up, effectively ending all conflict between the two. "Everyone to bed. We leave before first light. Fili, you take first watch, Kili you the second. Ori, you have the third."

* * *

Emelia had not been asleep, like all of the dwarves had assumed she was, making the entire thing about a thousand times more awkward. She had heard what Kili had said, making her entire face blush so fiercely she might have thought she had a fever. Her entire face felt like it was one fire as she thought about the entire company being witness to the little outburst by Kili. She probably wouldn't hear the end of it in the morning. Fili probably wouldn't talk to her out of necessity to clear up the fact that his feelings were entirely familial in nature.

The thought that he fancied her was so laughable it was almost insane.

That didn't stop her from burning with embarrassment at the thought, however.

She was forced to push the blanket back from over her face to get it to cool down. The air, while not Alaska cold, was still a wave of fresh washing over her face after forcing herself to attempt to sleep under her stuffy blanket for the better part of three hours. The bugs immediately flew towards her face, forcing her to remember that Thorin Oakenshield had picked the one mountain that had more insects on it than the flat ground. They swarmed around her face before she finally swatted at them as she sat up.

"Why is it so impossible for you to sleep through the night?"

It seemed she had escaped her blanket prison during the second watch of the night. Kili, wearing all of his traveling gear once again, was perched upon a large rock, twirling his knife in his hand and eyeing her with a very exasperated look.

"I heard you, you know." She said, pushing the blankets back from her legs. She hadn't realized she had been sweating so much until the cool air washed over her legs. "When you were talking about me."

Kili shifted awkwardly in his spot, turning away from her to look back down at the slope, choosing not to acknowledge her. Emelia felt her face scrunch up at the snub. She immediately stood up, stuffing her feet into her dirt caked boots, and made her way over to him. She bypassed a snoring Dori and jumped over a sleeping Bilbo, before planting herself in front of him. He didn't seem surprised to see her standing in front of him, arms crossed, lips set in a thin line. He merely looked annoyed.

"Unless you plan on helping keep watch, you should go back to sleep."

"I don't mean to be such a brat you know." She said, pulling herself up onto the rock, forcing him to move back from her out of instinct. "You just inspire such angry emotions that I just can't help it."

"I'm flattered." Kili said, turning his back to her once again.

"No, listen." She hated that her voice squeaked slightly at the effort to get him to listen to her. "I can't hate you, and Thorin, and Dwalin, and the trolls, and the river, and everything else in this damn place. I just can't. It tires me out. So I am saying I am sorry."

He was quite sure she was going insane. Not only had she suddenly thanked the dwarves for rescuing her, but now she was apologizing to him for who knows what. It was odd and out of character for the alarming woman.

"You do…"

"Kili, look. I don't know why you bother me so much, but you do. You bother me so much I want to punch you 95 percent of the time. I know you feel the same way about me, so there's no point in dancing around it. But, that's the extent of it. You can't possibly be as bad as those trolls if you risked your life to save me from the wargs. Nothing can be as bad as those trolls. And you can't possibly be so bad if Fee likes you as much as he does." She paused, shifting uncomfortably on her boot covered feet.

"Emelia, what in the name of Mahal is…"

"I'm just trying to say, in a very round about sort of way, is that I do not think…" She trailed off, losing the words she had planned to say spur of the moment.

If she was being honest, she hadn't planned on speaking to him at all. However, when he had addressed, as well as made the snipey remark towards her brother, she had decided that she didn't really have the energy to hate him. She had much more pressing matters. Namely, Thorin. She had been able to reflect on her anger towards Kili when she was in Rivendell because there she was completely safe and relatively happy. In the wild she wasn't. In the wild she feared for her life at every moment, and seeing Kili perched on that rock made her realize. Her anger towards him wasn't worth the time and effort.

"I think you're delirious from lack of sleep." Kili said simply in a whisper, scooting himself farther away from her. "You never sleep when you should."

"No, I'm…"

"Emelia, just go back to bed. You aren't making any sense. I am sure you will forget this entire thing come morning"

"No, I'm not. I'm not making any sense because I'm trying to call a truce with a stubborn ass like you."

He looked at her for a moment, dark eyes racking over her face, before he burst out in loud, chest rumbling laughter. His dark hair, which was wavy down the sides of his face from the wind, danced around. She thought his laughter might down when he saw that she was serious. He set his knife down, turning around to face her completely, only to descend into even more chortles.

"It's not funny, Kili."

She distinctly thought she heard him snort. "Of course it is."

She immediately stood up, pushing herself down to the ground. "See if I ever try and reason with you again you ego…"

"Emelia, you didn't even let me give my speech." Kili said, throwing himself down off the rock behind her, grabbing her shoulder to stop her from storming off into the trees out of anger.

"You're making fun of me." She said, turning around to face him.

"No, I am not." He couldn't even hold back his laughter long enough to say that with a straight face. "I swear. It is just surprising that you would even speak to me at all. I have heard the things you say about me."

"Fee is a viscous gossip. Don't listen to a word he says."

"I know that. He is my brother after all." Kili said, stopping her when she once again moved to go back to where she had been attempting to sleep. "I didn't say they weren't good things."

"You're awful." Emelia said, pulling his arm out of his grip. "You can't even take an apology like a proper, normal person can you?"

"Oh come off it." Kili said, forcing himself to keep his voice at a whisper. "You didn't let me finish what I was going to say."

"Go on then. Dazzle me."

Kili's lazy smile immediately faltered slightly. He hadn't actual planned on ever saying anything of the sort to her. He had always been told he was a good liar, a great one actually, but now that he was being started down by a less than impressed human, he found he wasn't exactly as quick with his wit as he thought. She looked at him for a moment longer, eyebrows raised, before she rolled her eyes, turning back around to walk away from him.

"I knew it." Emelia whispered over her shoulder.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry for your nose, and your shoulder, and I'm sorry I 'tacked you'. You were right when you said you bother me. Because you do. More than anything in fact." She stopped walking just next to Dwalin's body, looking over shoulder slightly. "You cry too much. But you are a woman so I suppose that is to be expected. You curse, which is odd, and you yell, which is also odd for someone who obviously has nothing physical to back their threats up with. Most of all though, you shouldn't be here, and for that I am sorry, because you can't control that, apparently, and neither can I."

"You're definitely making fun of me." She said, turning around to face him.

"Maybe a little." Kili said, immediately regretting it when he saw her shoulders slump slightly. "But, I still mean what I said."

She eyed him for a moment, scooting away from Dwalin slightly when he gave a very loud and resounding snore. Her boots scuffed the ground, gathering dirt as she moved. It squished and slopped beneath her, making her cringe slightly at the noise filling up the awkward lack of conversation. Kili had pulled out his knife, only to twirl it in his hands uncomfortably. He looked entirely alarmed and out of sorts after her sudden admission of apology. If she was being honest, she wasn't very comfortable either.

"I suppose I deserve a little ribbing, after all the mess I've caused."

"You didn't cause more than the usual." Kili said simply, shifting his own feet. "We dwarves tend to attract mess."

"I swear I'll stop being such a noodge."

"I have no idea what that means." Kili said, fully aware that he was now awkwardly smiling at her for the first time ever. Actually smiling.

"You're one Kili. Let's just leave it at that and call it a night."


	17. The Terrible After the Toymaker

"I am a bit confused, which is entirely understandable, as to where exactly we are going."

Emelia would have been in a significantly better mood if the company hadn't woken up to a torrential down pour the next morning. She had gone to bed shortly after she spoke with Kili. He hadn't said much to her, considering they were both still recovering from the undeniable awkwardness that had washed over them the second they had realized they were smiling at each other, leaving her with the only option of crawling back into her bed roll and stuffing her face so far into the fur lining of her thick jacket, she didn't see light until Fili ripped the blanket back to her moving in the morning. He had smiled at her briefly, helping her up and into a standing position, before he had stalked off to join some dwarf or another.

Fili, despite her best attempts, didn't really speak to her after he roused her from her unsteady slumber. She assumed it had to do with the exclamation his brother had made in front of the entire camp. Of course, she didn't get him to confirm her suspicions, considering he wouldn't look at her half of the time.

She couldn't bring herself to talk to Kili, considering her face inflamed every time she made eye contact with him. The previous night had been a complete and utter mystery to her. She had not planned on speaking to Kili, let alone apologizing to him. The words had gone tumbling out of her mouth in an embarrassing jumble of mutters and fragmented sentences. Now that she was looking back on it, she had thought she was more eloquent in her words. Apparently she had been wrong.

She found herself hiking next to Bofur, out of necessity of needing company, incessantly wiping her eyes from the horrendous amount of rain washing over her face. Even though she wore a thick leathery jacket, the rain had already soaked through, making her clothes feel sticky and tight. Her hair stuck to her, reminding her vividly that umbrellas apparently didn't exist.

Bofur looked over at her, sending water flying from the rim of his oddly shaped hat. He had been stubbornly attempted to smoke from his pipe, only to fail miserably, leaving him persistently upset. Or at least, as upset as Bofur could be.

"The mighty dwarf Kingdom of Erebor." Bofur said, a very large amount of pride dripping from his words. "We mean to reclaim it from Smaug the terrible."

She half expected Thorin to come thundering from out of nowhere, forcing Bofur to keep his mouth shut like he had done with Ori. She glanced around her, trying to see through the soupy rain that surrounded them, before she scooted closer to Bofur, feeling her interest being reluctantly peaked by the story Bofur had started. She wiped her face with the back of her sleeve, trying to rid her face of the ridiculous amount of excess water that coated her face.

"What makes him, or her, so terrible?"

"Well he is a dragon, for one thing."

Emelia had promised herself that she was going to start taking the dwarves more seriously. However, upon hearing him talk about a dragon sent her into an ungraceful fit of snorts and giggles.

"Come now, Lassie. It is not a laughing matter." Bofur said fixing her with a slightly stern look.

"I'm sorry." She said, sobering up when she saw the look on his face. "It's just that…" She trailed off for a moment, blinking rapidly in the bleary rain. "Dragons."

"Aye, dragons." Bofur said, reaching out to steady her as she stumbled in the mud. It splattered up onto her upper legs and stomach, causing her to let out a rather colorful curse. "Or more specifically, one dragon."

"So, he's a dragon that took the Kingdom of Arbor."

"Erebor."

"Right, Erebor." Emelia made a mental note to remember the name of the kingdom that the dwarves spoke of. The tone in their voices was one of reverence and awe, making her assume that it held a certain importance to all of them. "Why is it so important to take it back from," She paused trying to make her voice sound as least skeptical as possible. "The dragon?" The entire thing sounded ridiculous to her, but she made it her conscious effort to take what the dwarves said as fact. As much as that made her inwardly cringe.

"Ah, Lassie. You're in for a real treat." Bofur sported a very large smile on his face, spreading his hands out in front of him. "Erebor is beautiful; with huge columns of emerald and statues of gold. It is the most magnificent of all of the Kingdoms of Middle Earth and we intend to take it back."

"Why was it taken?" Emelia asked, slipping again in the mud for what felt like the hundredth time that day. "By a dragon?" She kept saying the word, hoping to believe it if she said it enough.

"Dragons, by nature, are obsessed with treasure. Erebor is filled with it." Bofur paused, shooting a look towards Thorin's back before he continued in a much quieter voice. "Thorin's grandfather and father amassed a treasure the size never seen before. Smaug was drawn to it."

"So you want this place back because…" She found it hard to want to go near anything that supposedly had a real life dragon in it. It was like a guard dog on steroids, making it something she was only to keen to avoid entirely.

"It is our home." Bofur said as if it was the simplest thing in the entire world. "It is only right that it should be ours again."

Emelia paused, slipping down the hill slightly. Bofur kept walking for a moment until he realized that she wasn't following along behind him. He turned back around, taking in her slack mouth and distant look. He moved back down to stand next to her. The rain bounced off her body, splashing onto the soaked earth in little droplets and puddles. The rest of the company didn't even notice the two of them stopping, with the exception of a curious looking Bilbo eyeing them from his spot next to a laughing Fili and Kili. Bofur stumbled slightly as his booted feet caught a particularly muddy spot on the ground. He placed his hand on her shoulder, drawing her attention over to him.

"Are you well, Lass?"

Emelia jumped slightly. She shook her head. "You know Bofur, I think I understand." She had a slight, disbelieving smile on her face. "I swear, I thought I would never get you short little men, but I do."

"What do you understand?" Bofur asked, shooting a furtive glance back up to the rest of the company.

"I want to go home too." She said simply, giving him a look that led him to think she was seeing him for the first time.

Bofur looked at her as she blinked at him in the steadily increasing rain. Her red hair was sticking to her face from underneath her hood. Her clothes were soaked all the way through, making them look heavy and sodden. The purpling of the bruises she had sustained while she was with the trolls was still visible, albeit faded, making her look more than a little worse for the wear. However, despite her disheveled and miserable look, she seemed relieved. The small smile that was slowly cracking its way across her pale face was steadily increasing in size until it became a full out grin. She spit some of the rain water out of her mouth that found its way in there before she laughed slightly.

"Bofur, I want to go home too." She reached out with her soaking arms, pulling the dwarf into a very unexpected hug. "I'd never thought I would find anything about you dwarves that I found to be redeeming, no offense, and here I find you want the same exact thing I do."

Bofur stood there awkwardly as she hugged him, glancing around at the increasingly barren landscape before he finally reached up his hands to pat her on the back. "I am happy we could help, Lassie."

She let out a laugh into the side of his hat, stepping back from him. "I swear Bofur, you just made my day."

"Well then, I am always happy to make a pretty girl smile." Emelia let out another laugh, shooting him a wry look. "We should join the others. Before Kili starts to make even more accusations about you." Bofur gestured with his arm, leading her back up to the tail end of the group.

They walked in silence for a moment before Emelia looked over at him bringing up an entirely new topic of conversation. "Obviously, you all aren't professional adventurers." Bofur looked over at her, raising an eyebrow. "So what exactly to dwarves do to make their money?"

Bofur looked thoughtful before he spoke. "A wide variety of things. Thorin is a rather accomplished blacksmith…"

"Fitting." Emelia said, shooting a look up at the angry dwarf.

"Dwalin is a mercenary."

"Also fitting." Emelia could just picture Dwalin being muscle for hire. He had that sort of look about him.

"Bombur is a rather wonderful chef, Oin is a healer, and Gloin is a diplomat, and Dori is rather accomplished with herbs and other natural things like that. Rather odd for a dwarf if you ask most others. Ori, Fili, and Kili are all too young to have real work besides helping their older relatives."

"What about you?"

"Me?" Bofur reached into his water logged pocket, digging around for a moment before he produced a small wooden carving and what Emelia assumed was a whittling knife. "I make toys."

Emelia couldn't help but smile as he showed her the little carving in his hand. It was small but intricately detailed with lines and swooping grains that showed just how talented Bofur was at his craft. It was of a dwarf, obviously, that appeared so kingly in nature Emelia couldn't help but feel like he was someone of great importance. He was stout and so magnificently bearded, Emelia found herself admiring it, despite herself. She had been around the dwarves long enough to see how much they prided their facial hair. The man that Bofur had carved would put them all to shame with his magnificent beard. He had carved him wearing extravagant robes and a crown atop his head.

"That is Durin." Bofur said, placing it into her hands. "Thorin, Fili, and Kili's ancestor."

"He is very," She flipped over the little figure, taking in his kingly appearance. "Regal looking. He looks like Thorin." She glanced up at the broody dwarf's back, feeling a scowl slide onto her face. " Unfortunately."

"Thorin does bear a striking resemblance to him I suppose." She gave it back to him before the rain ruined all of his hard work. He placed it into his pocket, patting it into place with a genial smile. "My toys are very popular amongst the little ones in human cities."

Emelia looked at him for a moment before she got an odd look on her face. She kept her eyes on the pocket that he had hidden Durin in, scrunching her lips up into a slight purse. She eyed it for a moment before she looked up to Bofur's face.

"Will you make a toy for my little brother?" She asked in a rush, feeling her face heat up at the speed in which the words came tumbling out of her mouth.

Emelia wasn't exactly sure why she was asking for a toy to be made. For some reason the desire had flamed up so suddenly in her stomach she couldn't hold it back. She knew it was almost impossible that she would be going home. Beyond impossible. She knew that she was more than likely never going to see Eddy again. The thought made her insides churn and pang with pain. However, despite that rationalization and knowledge, she couldn't really justify not asking for a toy. It seemed so right. If she ever did get to go home, Eddy would want something from her adventures. She would want something to share with him. Perhaps if she had the toy in her possession it would make the terrible journey that she found herself on a little more bearable.

Bofur had the decency not to comment on her sudden bout of word vomit, instead choosing to smile at her like he always did. "I would be honored to Lassie."

* * *

The rain did not stop even by the time the company settled down for the night. It had soaked all of them to the very core, making them all much more irritable and moody than they normally were. The rain was so torrential that the possibility of making a fire was lost as soon as they realized all of the kindling was far too wet and sodden to get a proper light. They were forced to huddle underneath the large few large trees that peppered the side of the stony mountain, using each other for warmth. It was rather lucky that the company had found those trees. They would have had to sleep in the pouring rain otherwise.

Emelia was rather proud of the fact that she wasn't shivering as violently as all of the dwarves assumed she would have been. She felt the prideful smile sneak its way onto her face when she realized that up on the mountain the temperatures were still warmer than the ones back in Kessog.

She pushed herself down into the safety of her leather coat further, feeling the dwarves on either side of her shift slightly at her movements.

"Stop moving, Emmy."

"Oh, so you're speaking to me now Fee?"

She looked over at the rain covered blonde dwarf, raising her eyebrows at him. He rolled his eyes, looking at her for a long time, before fixing her with the smile she had seen when they first met not that long ago. He shuffled closer to her, nudging her with his shoulder.

"I don't know what you are speaking of." He said with a small smirk.

"You've ignored me all day," She paused, trying to come up with a way that didn't make her sound needy. "I thought you might have missed my company." She finished lamely, slumping into her jacket even further. The rain was still hitting them, despite the fact that they were all huddled underneath the trees. The moon was barely peeking though, making it almost impossible for them to see each other unless they squinted their eyes so tightly it hurt.

Fili cleared his throat, shifting slightly next to her. He leaned closer so that only she would hear him. "Kili said you heard us talking."

Emelia felt her face blanch. She started to think all of the ways she could do damage control on the whole situation. Her entire face heated up as Fili looked over at her, ignoring the water dripping off from his blue hood and over his nose.

"I do not know how to approach this without offending you."

"If you're about to say that what Kili was saying was a total crock of shit, then you don't have to." Emelia said, nudging him her damp shoulder.

"It isn't that you aren't…"

"Fee, I swear I am not offended. Kili doesn't know what he's talking about half the time."

"You are both aware I am sitting right next to you." Kili said suddenly, drawing their attention over to him. He did not sound amused by the two of them. Emelia felt Fili stifle a small laugh, lifting his arm out before throwing it around Kili's shoulder, drawing his brother closer to him in a reluctant and one-sided embrace. "I can hear every single thing you say."

Emelia let out a small laugh, scooting herself down farther into the moist dirt at the base of the tree. "We have to keep ourselves entertained somehow. It's not like we'll be able to sleep anyway. Why not talk about you?"

"Why not?" Kili mocked, sarcasm dripping from his voice with every syllable.

"I don't really know why you said that Kili, you know I like my women a little hairier than Emmy." Fili said, looking out towards the slope of the mountain, taking in the landscape with a smirk on his face.

"Are dwarf women really that hairy?" Emelia asked, trying to hide her disgust at the thought.

"Some have more magnificent beards tha..."

Before Fili could finish his sentence, he was cut off by a loud reverberating screech. It vibrated through Emelia's chest, sending shivers down her spine. The dwarves immediately stood up, drawing their various types of weapons, leaving Emelia huddled in the mud, glancing around rapidly for the source of the blood curdling noise. She backed herself up into the tree, feeling her hands squishing in the mud underneath her. She felt herself slipping as she desperately tried to use the tree as a shield from whatever it was that made that noise.

It wouldn't have been so terrifying if the screech had been singular. It wasn't. Mere moments after the first screech, what sounded like hundreds followed.

The dwarves slipped and stumbled as the circled around the small clearing they were in, weapons trained in front of them. Emelia felt her sword, which Alunim had strapped to her back with a look of warning, clanging into the tree as she tried to keep scooting backwards.

The sounds steadily increased in volume and number until they were so loud, Emelia was having a hard time hearing her own thoughts. The rain didn't stop as the noises increased, adding to overall feeling of stress and panic. The occasional lightning strikes threw all of the dwarves into sharp relief, highlighting their own looks of worry. Even Thorin looked worried as she shifting into what Emelia had been taught was a defensive fighting stance.

The dwarves circled around each other until the first sight of the creature that was making the screeching came into view.

It was small, pale, and grotesquely ugly. It wore a loincloth type thing over its privates, although it covered it very poorly, and straps covered in staples and bits of metal over its scar tainted shoulders. It was stooped, like a more appalling looking Quasimodo, and stumbled along like it was in need of a walking cane. Its teeth, which were bared and snapping, were so disgustingly dirty, Emelia had to fight the urge to vomit. The creature, in its entirety, made her want to vomit.

And it wasn't alone.

There were probably thirty of them, all of varying size and status of what Emelia equated to decay.

The dwarves, who Emelia had yet to see actually doing anything besides running away from their enemies, were positively lethal looking. If she wasn't so sure, relatively speaking, that the dwarves weren't going to hurt her, she would have been terrified at the looks on their faces as they launched themselves at the creatures now pouring down from the side of the mountain.

She tried her best to stay hidden. The creatures were holding swords, knives, bows, and what looked like, wires covered in massive spikes.

She would have been Swiss cheese if she tried to move from her spot.

Emelia slid her hand up to her back, feeling around blearily for the handle of the sword, keeping her eyes on the dwarves and creatures in front of her. The dwarves were cutting them down, with grotesque slices and stabs to their middles, backs, and necks. Blood was splatting everywhere, all over the dwarves and onto the ground, mixing with the rainwater and the mud. She felt her stomach churn at the sight of the black blood spilling everywhere.

She had thought she had done a good job of hiding herself. None of them had approached her, until she felt a hand wrap itself around her neck from behind.

Her body was wrenched roughly out of the mud, sending pain shooting down her neck from the pressure of the squeeze as she let out a puff of a scream. Her entire body went into panic mode as she felt the hand on her, pulling her closer to the body of her attacker. Her heart felt like it was stopping, her stomach was seizing, and her legs felt like jelly. The only part of her body that seemed to work properly was her arms. They were flailing, one hold her sword, trying to catch some part of the creature. She felt her sword slip into its skin, sending black blood spewing over Emelia's face, before she finally managed to catch it in the side of the neck. It fell to the ground in a heap, finally releasing its hold on her.

She suddenly felt a lot more bad ass than the scuffle would have indicated.

She stumbled slightly in the mud as she looked down at the creature that was bleeding in front of her. All adrenaline she had been feeling was completely lost as she looked at it bleeding. It was dead. Obviously. But that wasn't what bothered her. What bothered her is that she killed it. She had killed it. Murder didn't feel like the appropriate word, but she couldn't seem to get it out of her mind. Her hands shook as she glanced down at her sword, seeing the blood still on the blade.

What would her mother have thought if she had seen her? What would Eddy have thought?

She felt her chest tighten as she imagined their disappointed faces. She had killed something. Killed it. That just didn't happen in Kessog, Alaska. And it certainly didn't happen when Emelia Kinsington Montgomery was involved.

"Miss Emelia, are you well?"

She had never jumped so high as when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She spun around, brandishing her sword in a pathetically lackluster attempt at intimidation.

Ori stepped back from her, eyes wide as he looked down at her sword. She eyed him for a moment before lowered it, letting the tip sink into the muddy earth. "Oh god. I'm sorry Ori."

"Are you hurt?" Ori asked, shooting a look over his shoulder at the rest of the company. Bilbo was nursing a particularly nasty black eye, while most of the others appeared unhurt. He had not noticed her until she had let out a muffled scream, alerting their attention over to her. By the time they had seen her, she was violently, and ungracefully, attempting to kill the goblin that was holding her roughly by the neck. The dwarves had immediately moved towards her, only to see her catch the goblin by the neck, sending it down to the floor in a heap.

"I don't think so…" Emelia said, shooting a look over her shoulder at the creature on the ground. It was still bleeding slightly, making her stomach squirm slightly as she eyed it.

Ori placed a hand on her shoulder, drawing her attention back over to him. All of the dwarves seemed appallingly cavalier about the whole thing, making her feel even worse about her less than stellar reaction. She felt like she was the only one who was truly upset by all of the blood on the ground. She felt like the only one who seemed to notice that she had just killed something. She had never even hurt something, besides fish. And now there she was, cutting through some human looking creature like it was made of butter.

"I didn't do a ba.." She paused, feeling her hands shake even more as she looked at the thing she had just killed. Murdered. "It was trying to ki..." It seemed she was incapable of forming coherent sentences. "I didn't mean to."

"Emmy, that was beyond amazing." Emelia barely had time to recover before she was being pulled into a messy hug. She felt the mud squishing on her as Fili crushed her sending her stumbling slightly. "You killed a goblin, and a particularly nasty one at that."

She buried her face into his coat, feeling her heart rate finally beginning to slow down.

"I think it was luck." She said shakily, dropping her sword to the ground completely.

"Well, that was some damn good luck if you ask me." Another voice said, followed by a clap on her back. She leaned back from Fili, wiping the mud and blood off her of face before she turned to face the owner of the voice. Kili was smiling, albeit slightly, at her. She looked at him for a moment before she returned the favor.

"Damn good?" She said blearily, not being able to stop herself from shooting one more glance over at the creatures body.

"Damn good." Kili said, bending down to her sword, before plucking if off of the ground and handing it to her with a small smile on his dirty face.


	18. Of Monsters and Mortification

It did not stop raining for the next week as the company pressed upward and onward through the mountains. Emelia had lost track of how many days it had been since she had seen Rivendell, which might have been a better thing than she had originally thought. She found she was able to focus on other things besides how much she missed the elven city. Like how much she hated the rain, or how ridiculously dirty she felt all the time, or how much she hated eating soggy bread for dinner every single night.

The dwarves were just as unhappy as she was, resulting in the overall short temperedness that plagued them all. They snapped, and snipped, and spat with each other more than she had ever seen them do before. They barked at Bombur because they hadn't been able to eat a proper warm meal in days. They snapped at Balin when they realized they weren't even close to making it off the side of the mountain. They shushed Fili and Kili with glares and scowls when the two brothers tried to lift the company's spirits in ways that only to two of them could.

The only person who was immune to the company's communal bad mood was Thorin.

Emelia imagined they were all too intimidated by him to even attempt to take their anger out on him. The only person who had managed to say something remotely cross towards Thorin was Dwalin, and even that had resulted in a rather heated discussion between the two in a language that Emelia had yet to figure out the name of. The rest of the company had learned soon thereafter that Thorin was practically off limits for their fowl moods and short tempers.

That didn't stop them from being short with her, and to an even greater extent, Bilbo however. It seemed like they were more than happy to snap and snipe at the two of them, making Emelia constantly feel the strong desire to hit something. The little hobbit was on the receiving end of most of the dwarves foul tempers resulting in his own less than stellar attitude as they trekked onward though the waterlogged mountains. They were rude, which wasn't so surprising, and short responded perpetually, making the entire water filled journey about as miserable as all of them could imagine.

The ground had slowly and steadily become more and more rocky, resulting in the company slipping and sliding on the stony surface.

They hadn't noticed the change in scenery at first, considering the rain had washed over their faces so thoroughly it was hard to focus on anything else, but by the time they found themselves on the side of the mountain, picking their way along the thin, rickety path, it was obvious that the mud was long gone.

Emelia found she missed the mud. When she slipped in the mud it didn't hurt her knees so bad. The rocks had cut and bruised up her knees so badly from all the times she teetered and tottered, she found it hard to walk properly half the time.

She had stumbled into Dwalin one too many times, resulting in him forcing her back to her now constant position between Fili and Kili.

"I do not understand how it can rain for so long without stopping." Kili said for what felt like the hundredth time in the past week.

Emelia felt her hands grip at her sides so tightly her knuckles went completely white. "I don't know Kili, why don't you ask again? Maybe the answer will appear out of thin air."

She felt all of the nerves in her body singing and tingling with annoyance at the dark haired dwarf. She had been doing her absolute best to be nice to him. After their little talk, she had tried more than anything to not be short with him. She had smiled at him, which pained her sometimes, and laughed at even his undeniably stupid jokes. But now that he was asking the same question again, she felt all of her resolve slipping, leaving her with an undeniable need to shush Kili in the only way her mind could rationalize; snark, and lots of it.

Fili pressed a warm hand into her back, laughing slightly at the two of them, as they made their way along the side of the mountain.

"Emmy." Fili said warningly into her ear, placing his hands onto her hips to hoist her up to the next level of the ledge. Kili turned around, ignoring the look on Emelia's face, and grabbed her hands, steadying her as she scrambled her way over the slick rocks. He placed his hand on her shoulders pulling her away from the unsteady edge before he let go of her, dropping his hands as he moved his gaze up to her annoyed face

His had the nerve to smirk at her, ignoring his dark hair sticking in his face in swirls and spirals. His dark eyes were sparkling with mirth, despite the fact that she was glaring at him so thoroughly she was surprised he wasn't feeling physical pain. He would have been pleasing to look at, surprisingly, if she hadn't been so focused on getting that smirk off of his smug face. He folded his arms across his chest, making water squish out from his blue clad arms.

"Don't look at me like that." Emelia said, mimicking his position with her arms over her chest.

"What are you talking about Emelia?" Kili asked, completely oblivious to the warning look he was getting from his brother. "I am looking at you like I always look at you."

"Kili I am entirely too wet to deal with this right now."

The smile that had been on Kili's face completely faded, turning instead to a wild blush that covered from the tips of his cheeks all the way down his neck. He immediately stepped back, coughing awkwardly as he ceased making eye contact with her almost instantly. He couldn't help but look at her legs, almost immediately regretting the decision when he heard Fili laugh even louder. Emelia felt her face scrunch up in confusion for a moment before she felt her mouth fall open slightly. Her entire body burned as she realized just exactly what she had said to make Kili look so uncomfortable with her.

She shook her head, bringing her hands up in front of her face, covering it completely. "Oh god. No. I didn't mean it like…"

"Right. Erm…" Kili didn't exactly know where to look. He couldn't look at Emelia's bright red face, nor could he make eye contact with his now chortling brother.

She felt like she was bright red with embarrassment as Fili let out a loud snort of laughter as he looked at the two of them awkwardly shifting on their feet in front of each other. Kili was now the color of Emelia's hair, and Fili imagined Emelia wasn't much better. She was stepping back and forth over the water covered rocks. Her back was tense as she tried to find a way out of her current painfully awkward situation. Kili was glancing over his shoulder at the rest of the company, fingers twitching slightly.

"Well this is just nice and comfortable isn't it?" Fili asked, clapping a hand onto Emelia's shoulder.

"Quiet, Fee."

Fili wasn't able to stop himself from laughing out loud as the two of them spoke at the same time, both with matching annoyed looks on their faces. He could only just imagine the thought process that both of them were going through as they looked back at each other in horror. Kili stepped back even further, a bright red blush blooming over his face as she glanced back towards the rest of the company that had left the three of them behind. Emelia's hood had fallen back, revealing her sopping wet hair as she looked back and forth for what Fili assumed was a way out of the situation she was in.

"Oh lighten up you two." Fili said, moving forward to wrap an arm around their each of their tensed up shoulders, drawing them into him slightly. "At least you're talking to each other."

Kili looked across his brother's chest to Emelia, who was avoiding making eye contact completely. She was looking out at the mountains across from them, suddenly very interested in the shape and formation. He couldn't help but feel uncomfortable, for some unfathomable reason, as her choice of words. He felt very young, suddenly, as he felt his hot face. Her words should not have affected him the way they did. He supposed he should take it for what it was. She was talking to him, and he was talking to her. It was about all the two of them could hope for, considering how teetering and unsteady their friendship was. He could tell she still felt uncomfortable around him, but she tried to best to not let those feelings show.

She was doing her best, and he felt it was only right to return the favor.

He looked over at her, offering her an awkward smile before he reached across his brother to pull her along behind him in an attempt to diffuse the tension.

"Fee's an idiot." Emelia said from behind him, ignoring the bark of laughter from the blonde behind him. They walked along the side of the mountain in silence, pulling their bodies away from each other as far as was safe. He still glanced over his shoulder to make sure she was still there, but for the most part he kept his awkward gaze firmly in front of him.

"I didn't mean it like that." Emelia said, pulling her hands into her sides as she ignored Fili turning to the nearest dwarf to prattle on about the situation he had just witnessed.

Kili paused, turning back to look at her with an unreadable expression on his face. "I know. You are far too lady-like to say such a thing."

"And in such polite company too." Emelia said, picking up on his slight, ribbing sarcasm. She attempted to smile at him.

She always felt like she was attempting. Kili was not someone she found she got along with easily. He wasn't his brother, whom Emelia found herself on constant good terms. Fili was someone who Emelia felt like she could say anything to without worrying about offending him. She had tested her theory multiple times, only to be met with the results she expected. Fili wasn't one who was offended. Kili was. She had to watch her words constantly around the younger brother, which bothered her. She wasn't used to having to be careful with what she said. Her parents had found her snarkiness and sassiness to be charming. It seemed that all of the dwarves found it to be grating and alarming for a woman to speak the way she did.

Kili was one of the dwarves that found her to be perpetually alarming, as he had told her so more often than not.

She had noticed, now that Fili was forcing the two of them to spend more time together, that she managed to make Kili smile at her, secretly, which made her feel slightly better. She didn't know why she and Kili were so at odds with each other, she just knew that they were, and despite all of their efforts, the silences that fell between them were still painfully and depressingly uncomfortable for Emelia to deal with.

"We are polite company when we choose to be." Kili said simply, fixing her with a look that made Emelia more than a little uncomfortable.

His eyes were too dark and clouded. His face too unreadable.

"As Alunim said, you all could be worse." Emelia said after a long moment. Kili looked at her for a moment longer, reaching his hand up to his stubbled face, rubbing it along carefully until his thick fingers paused on the left side of his face. He studied her for a long palpable moment before he finally decided she wasn't planning, or meaning, to outright insult him.

"I suppose we could have."

* * *

Emelia kept herself firmly planted between Kili and a still amused Fili as the mountain pass became more and more treacherous by the step. Kili had stopped speaking to her shortly after they had stopped briefly. He wasn't avoiding her, per say, instead choosing to stick closer to the dwarf in front of him rather than her. He smiled at her occasionally, indicating to Emelia that he wasn't avoiding her out of anger or frustration, just his own necessity. She knew she made him feel awkward, just the way he made her feel, so she did not hold it against him.

The fact that they were able to speak with each other, and smile intermittently, was enough for Emelia.

She would worry about building relationships when she wasn't covered head to toe in sticky, miserable rain.

The path had become thinner and more dangerous, resulting in the dwarves pressing themselves up so close to the rocks, they were practically kissing them. Kili, much to Emelia's great surprise, kept his hand firmly planted on her, making sure she didn't stumble like she had when they had first started their journey in the mountains once he realized that the path was no longer remotely safe. He had tried to keep his distance until it became impossible, resulting in Emelia being pressed up against his back. Fili kept one hand on her back, making Emelia feel like she was being smashed from both sides as they pushed on her in an attempt to keep her firmly in her spot between them.

The rain hadn't stopped, but instead it had started to lighting and thunder.

Every time it cracked, Emelia thought her heart was going to stop. It reverberated through her like a bass drum, making her chest shake and rumble with each new bolt touching the ground.

She pressed herself into the wall closer and closer with every new crack of lightning, her shoulders and knees scrapping along as she struggled to keep grips on not only herself, but the mountain side. Her hands moved of their own accord to the back of Kili's cloak, pulling the fabric so tightly he stumbled back as she pulled him to her. He glanced over his shoulder, fixing her with a concerned look before he tentatively reached one of his soaking hands down to grab a hold of one of her own.

"You won't fall Emelia." He said simply, as if he was certain.

She was rather ashamed to admit that the thought that she would go plummeting to her death was something she had been thinking about constantly ever since they had arrived in the higher parts of the mountain. It was all she could see, all she could smell, and all she could imagine as they moved slowly. Her entire face had lost its blood, leaving her looking like a ghost, as she stared down at the never ending pit that dipped on the side of the mountain. Her body shook like a leaf, and her eyes shed involuntary, almost unperceivable tears.

She supposed she should have admitted sooner that she was terrified of heights.

Haltingly, painfully, bitingly, and perpetually terrified of heights.

"I don't like this Kili." She said quietly, sounding almost nonexistent over the howling wind and thunder. "I don't like this at all."

Kili felt like this was a conversation that would have been better suited for a different time and place. And dwarf. He felt her hand clench around his own, forcing his attention back to her petrified face. She refused to let go of his hand, once she had a hold of it, and pulled it in closer to her. He felt it rubbing against the fabric of her stomach, making him acutely aware of how afraid he actually was. Her entire form was shaking like she was freezing. He imagined she would have been mortified at her grip on his hand if she wasn't so out sorts

"What's going on?" Fili had finally managed to muscle his way up next to them, teetering dangerously on the edge as he used on of the rock outcroppings to steady himself. He glanced at the two of them for a moment, taking in their intertwined hands and her terrified expression before he finally seemed to understand. He understood, as well as the next dwarf, that commenting on it would not have been in his best interest. Emelia would have punched him, sooner rather than later.

"I do…"

"Look out!"

Emelia barely had time to glance over Kili's shoulder before she was being pushed into the wall by both of the brothers, her back sliding along the rough edge so painfully she cried out. She buried her face into the nearest place she could find, smushing her nose in so tightly, colors shot across her vision. She felt small rocks and scraps of the mountain falling down over them, scraping over her head and along the part of her neck that was left exposed. The two dwarves pushed her into the mountain more, making her cry out from the pressure on her torso before they finally released her after the thundering ceased for a brief moment.

They stepped back from her, looking over at each other to check for injured. Fili smiled at Kili when he saw that his brother was unhurt, placing a strong hand on his shoulder.

"The stories are true!" She knew that was Bofur by the accent. He sounded amazed, which alarmed Emelia, as he gestured wildly to the opposite side of the mountain.

She reluctantly followed his gaze before she felt all of the remaining blood in her face drain completely.

The mountain, or what she had assumed was a mountain, was coming alive. Literally coming alive. She immediately scrambled back, letting a small cry out of her mouth involuntarily, as she watched the mountain separate itself and form into the shape of a colossally stony man. He lumbered to his feet, like any living and breathing man would, before he turned back to the mountain to grab a hold of the stone that covered it surface with its boulder-like hand.

"What the fu.."

"It's a Thunder battle!" The dwarves were apparently as panicky as Emelia was.

As it were, she felt like she was going to wet herself and vomit all at the same time.

The monster, which she found she was describing a lot of things as in this new found place, hurled the chunk of the mountain directly above them, sending loud rumbles all the way down to them before the rock exploded, sending pebbles raining down on them. Fili threw his hands above her head, pushing her behind him in an attempt to keep her from being hurt. She made a mental note to thank him later, the earlier teasing completely forgotten as she buried her face into the thick fabric that sat on his shoulder.

He didn't step back until the rumbling ceased.

The moment he did, the rumbling picked up again. Only this time it was below their feet. They all looked down in a mixture of shock and horror as the ground increased its rumbling, making them all stumble back and forth. Emelia immediately reached out to Fili, pulling him towards her in a panic. He tried to pry her death grip off of his shirt, only to have her wrap her hands around him even tighter, her breathing increasing with the rumbling of the ground. She no longer felt like she was in control of her body, her hands were acting of their own accord as she struggled to keep Fili from moving away from her.

The thought of letting go of him, made her insides shrivel and clench with undeniable and paralyzing fear.

The ground increased its rumbling until it finally became so intense, Emelia lost balance on the side of the mountain.

She made the mistake of looking down. She felt woozy and lightheaded when she saw that they were moving. Her throat tore out a scream of its own accord, straining her voice to its limits as she felt her body being carried through the air like it was on some sick roller coaster. She pressed her face into Fili chest even further, feeling his arms clench around her for the first time since she had latched herself onto him like a germ. She felt him pushing her into the wall, flipping himself so that she was pressed into his back instead of his front.

"Fili!"

The shouts of the other dwarves were almost as disorienting at the movement, making the ever present nausea rise up even further in her stomach and chest.

The motion continued for only a moment longer before she felt her and Fili being thrown forward in a heap, black shooting across her vision. She felt heavy rocks peppering and colliding with her body, adding to the litany of bruises she already possessed. They had tumbled and rolled until Fili landed on top of her, crushing her under the weight of his armor and body weight. He wasn't moving, which was concerning, making it hard for her to breathe.

She puffed out water and dust, fighting the urge to vomit right then and there. The need was prevailing and over powering, making her feel like she was going to pass out. The weight of Fili sat on her for what felt like an eternity before he was lifted off her, resulting in a rush of air to her lungs. She felt a pair of hands on her, pulling her up out of the soupy water and into an awkward standing position. The sudden movement sent even more nausea washing over her.

She fought it as best as possible as she looked into a pair of very dark eyes.

"Thank Mahal none of you were hurt." It was Kili, smiling at her as he held her up with the two strong hands on her shoulders.

"I thin…" She paused, losing the ability to focus on Kili's face.

There were shouts from behind Kili, making Emelia feel even more disoriented. "I think I'm going to be sick." She finally managed to choke out, pushing herself back from Kili to avoid retching all over him.

She imagined that would have ended all and any seedlings of a friendship that had slowly but surely been starting to form between them. She stumbled over away from him, spilling the contents of her almost empty stomach over the rain covered rocks. It was painful, much like it had been in the troll cave, and much more humiliating. There was an audience this time. There was more shouting from behind her as she slumped over and dry heaved. The shouting continued up until she whipped her mouth on the back of her hand, diminishing into nothing but gruff orders from Thorin.

Emelia felt a hand on her back, patting her soothingly before she finally managed straighten herself up.

"I won't be doing that again." She managed to choke out, turning around to face the dwarf responsible for the hand.

Fili smiled at her slightly, before offering her a bit of fabric to wipe her mouth with, before leading her towards the entrance to the first dry place they had found in weeks.

* * *

It came as no surprise that Emelia was not able to sleep. The dwarves, with the exception of Bofur who was on watch, had all fallen into an uneasy sleep. They were snoring, which Emelia had learned was a racial trait, which meant they were all soundly asleep. Or so she had assumed.

She had shoved herself into a corner, both mortified and terrified form the experience they had had on the side of the mountain.

She hadn't vomited in years prior to her appearance in the river, and now she had done it repeatedly in the last month. She still felt the taste of it in her mouth, despite having washed it out repeatedly, making it impossible for her to find comfort in her sleep. That added to the fact that she was now missing Rivendell, and Kessog, more than she ever had, made her entire being clench up in discomfort and revulsion as she looked at each of the dwarves sleeping faces one by one.

Emelia did not spend much time looking at Thorin, or Dwalin, for that matter. She still found them to be a catalyst of her anger and frustration at being amongst the company. Bifur still scared her, even in sleep, so she moved her gaze away from him rather quickly. Gloin and Oin, who she found to be amongst the closest in the group, were leaning against each other at the far side of the cave, using each other's strong shoulders and backs to support them in sleep. Fili and Kili had positioned themselves next to each other, like they always did, sharing blankets and cloaks like she would have if she had been with Edward. Balin was curled up against his cloak, as were Ori, Dori and Nori. Bilbo was curled in on himself so tightly, she wasn't sure if it was him, or a particularly large pack.

They were all sleeping except for one.

She had not expected to find Bombur staring at her from his seated position across the cave when she had started her observing of the dwarves.

She froze when she saw the red headed dwarf looking at her. He was munching, which she suspected of him, and watching. He looked at her for a moment before he lifted up a meaty hand, gesturing her over to him a swift, silent position.

She eyed him for a moment, before she lifted herself to her feet, stumbling slightly in the sand that littered the cave floor.

It wasn't as if she was sleeping to occupy her time.

He smiled up at her when she sat down lazily next to him. He was silent for a moment before he opened his mouth, addressing her individually for the first time in days.

"I noticed you haven't eaten much since…" He trailed off, seeming to shy up at the thought of mentioning her vomiting spell from earlier. He blushed slightly as she looked at him before he reached a thick hand over to his pack, pulling out a crusty roll and a piece of dried meat. "I thought you might sleep better on a full stomach."

Her entire body rushed and bubbled with gratitude and appreciate at the thoughtfulness of the gesture. Despite her residual nausea, she reached a pruney hand out to take the offering, smiling at him in thanks.

He munched on it slowly, rolling it around her mouth before forcing herself to swallow it. Bombur watched her for a moment before he too returned to his midnight snack.

"I am afraid of heights, you know." Bombur said through a particularly large bite of bread. "This evening's events were particularly bad."

She paused in her attempts to force herself to eat. She observed him for a moment, taking in his large kind face and expressive eyes. She instantly felt bad that she had not spoken to him more. He was far too kind to avoid a conversation. He was far too gentle to be ignored.

"I am too."

"I believe we all noticed that Lassie." He said with a small burp of digestion. "Which is completely understandable to us. We dwarves prefer to keep our feet firmly planted on the ground."

"I am not a bird." Emelia said simply. "If we were meant to fly, we would have been born with wings." Bombur let out a small, hearty laugh.

It was true that Emelia was scared of heights. She had never been on a plane, up a tree, or more than a boats difference from the ground. She had been scared from the time she was a small child, when she had fallen out of the back end of a car, resulting in a broken arm and a lifelong fear. She found she appreciated the dwarves a little more for the new information that Bombur had relayed. She could get along with a person who feared heights a profoundly as she did.

She heard Bofur conversing with someone from behind her, drawing both of their attention over to him. Bilbo was standing in front of him, pack in hand. She could not hear the specific words, as they were whispered back and forth harshly. She understood the gist and the meaning of his pack, however. He was leaving.

"Will you be going with him?" Bombur asked quietly from behind her.

Leaving seemed like such a nice notion, in theory. However, after her experience on the side of the mountain, she found she could not fathom going back the way she had come. The thought of the stone creatures and the mind boggling heights made the little amount of food in her stomach squirm and churn. No, she wouldn't be going back with him, as appealing as the idea was. She missed Rivendell, but she did not miss it enough to go back out into the rain. She did not miss it enough to risk dying.

"No, I do not think it will."

Bombur seemed to like that news, as he smiled widely at her.

They both watched the whispered exchange, munching on their food for a moment before Bofur finally smiled at Bilbo and patted his shoulder.

The hobbit made to move when he was interrupted by Bofur, looking down wildly at his sword attached to his belt. Bilbo stared down for a moment before a loud groan was heard throughout the small cave. None of the dwarves stirred, with the exception of Thorin.

"Up! Everybody up!"

Emelia wasn't sure what was so alarming about a groan, however she had been wrong so many times before that she kept her mouth shut. She stood up quickly, throwing her bread down as she looked around at all of the panicking dwarves for a moments. Only a few of them had woken up when the floor literally fell out from underneath them, making Emelia's heart drop instantly as she fell, reaching out frantically for the first thing she could grab, which happened to be a very scared looking Bombur.

He grabbed around her stomach, shielding her from impact as they tumbled down lower and lower into the depths of the mountain, leaving all of the supplies, fresh air, and Emelia's shaky resolve behind as they went.

* * *


	19. The Goblin King

Falling was a supremely unpleasant experience. It was the main reason Emelia despised heights so much. Falling always seemed to follow the heights. And just as Emelia had always imagined falling from great heights to be, this fall was particularly bad.

Bombur kept a deathly tight grip around her middle as they tumbled further and further into the heart of the mountain, making it impossible for Emelia to get away. Not that she would have wanted to. The stout dwarf made it so that she didn't hit the side of the stony shoot nearly as much as the rest of the company. The majority of her impact was on Bombur's massive belly, making her pain level minimal. Minimal, but not nonexistent. About half down she somehow managed to bit her tongue so strongly, coppery, thick tasting blood sprung up into her mouth. Bombur did his best to shield most of the impact from her, but he couldn't stop everything. She still hit the sides of the rock wall occasionally, sending painful pangs through her already bruised skin.

She had never imagined that her life would flash before her eyes. It had always seemed like such a trite and cowardly thing to say. The concept that she would remember all of the things that had made her happy in her life just before she died had always depressed her. It was taunting and cruel. To show someone all that had made them happy just before they met their end was so undeniably wrong. As little stock she had put into the concept, she found that as they fell, she was seeing all of the things that made her happy, mixed in with all of the terrible.

She did see her brother, smiling up at her after he had lost his first tooth.

She did see her mother, kissing her resoundly on the check before leaning back with a large, smirking smile on her youthful face.

She did see her father, laughing in that booming laugh that had always comforted her, as he helped Hannah, his Hannah, Emelia's beautiful mother, prepare yet another one of their experiments with fish.

The images of her family flashed in front of her eyes briefly, almost too briefly, before they disappeared entirely, leaving her with nothing but the sight of a screaming Bombur and passing rocks. She could hear the sounds of the others screaming, making the entire situation that much more disconcerting and confusing. They tumbled and stumbled down and down, all screaming and shouting, until they finally came to a harsh stop at the bottom of what appeared to a giant ravine inside the mountain.

The sudden feeling of stopping all the momentum they had gained in their fall sent a jarring, painful headache shooting through her, centralizing and pooling just behind her now hazy eyes.

Her hair was thrown in front of her face and over Bombur's from his position underneath her, hands still gripped into her sides so tightly she thought she would have hand shaped bruises if she braved looking at herself naked for the first time since she had left Alaska.

He was breathing like he had just run a marathon, moving her body up and down as he refused to let go of her. It seemed he hadn't been lying when he said he hated heights. She lifted her head up just enough to see him sweating and twitching from the fear he had just experienced. She shifted slightly, trying to get off of him for a moment, before she felt a rather heavy object colliding with her back, making it crack painfully, sending her pushing into Bombur once again.

She supposed it was a good thing the hefty dwarf was so kind, or else she would find the situation horribly awkward.

The weight above her, which was now squirmy, let out a loud groan, rolling off of her and Bombur, relieving the pressure on her back. Bombur finally let go of her long enough to help her to sit up, offering her a tight smile as he did so. She managed to smile back slightly, hoping her appreciation showed through despite her current state. She hadn't the foggiest how far they had actually fallen, but she imagined it was quite far. It had felt like they were flying downward for an eternity; a terrifying, heart stopping, gut wrenching, eternity, before they had finally landed in a heap of dwarves, hobbit, and human. She could only imagine how hurt she would have been if it hadn't been for Bombur using his natural padding to soften her blow against the rocks.

"Emmy, are you hurt?"

It took her a moment to process the question, running a status check of her body, before she turned away from Bombur, sitting back onto her backside as she looked around wearily for the owner of the voice.

Fili was scrambling over to her, a large bruise covering his left eye and forehead, holding his hand gingerly to his chest. His brother wasn't far behind him, sporting a deep gash along his right cheek bone. It leaked thick, goopy blood down his cheek, pooling in the stubble that still covered his chin. They were supporting each other, shooting processing looks at their fellow dwarves as they went. They paused briefly at their uncle, placing heavy hands on his shoulder before seeing that he was relatively unharmed.

"Look for a way down." Thorin shouted to the dwarves that were already standing and moving about in the small cage. "Gather yourselves and remaining supplies quickly."

Emelia glanced over the bars, scooting herself gingerly over to them to peer over the edge. She felt her chest tighten when she finally looked over into the never ending blackness that spiraled out in front of her eyes. It looked as if it went forever. She imagined that she would lose herself so quickly in the darkness it wasn't even funny. They would all lose themselves in the darkness if they weren't careful. She placed her hands on the bars of the makeshift cage, using them to support her sore body.

"Emmy." She felt Fili, or Kili, place a hand on her shoulder from behind. "Are you injured?"

She wasn't sure if she was or not. Her old injuries mixed with her new ones, making it hard to determine her status. She glanced at her hands, taking in the dry mud and blood. She squeezed the bars tighter, turning her knuckles white.

She wasn't exactly sure where they were, or what they were doing in a cage that looked alarmingly like it was made of human bones, but she knew she didn't like it. Cages meant captivity, and captivity reminded her too much of her time spent with the trolls. Just being in the musty inside of the mountain brought back memories of her stint in the troll hole, making her shake slightly. She thought of her time there only in her darkest of moments, which happened more than she liked to admit. But this seemed worse. She felt like she was back there physically. The coolness of the mountain inside was just like in the cave, the dank feeling just as depressing and stifling.

"I'm fine." She said, not bothering to turn around to look at the two of them. "Although, I can't help but wonder if you dwarves ever have a quiet moment." The two brothers let out a laugh, pulling her back from the bars to turn around and face them. They both smiled at her, completely oblivious to the panic that was quickly beginning to fill her up to the brim.

"Not typically, no." Kili said simply, stretching his arms out in front of him, shoulders popping as he did. "Besides, where would the fun be in a boring existence? What's a little tumble through the mountain in the grand scheme of things?"

"Very true, brother." Fili said, smiling over at him as he placed a hand on his shoulder. "Still sassy I see, Miss Emmy despite that fun little tumble."

He nudged her slightly before wrapping an arm around her shoulders to pull her into a tight hug.

"I'm only sassy when I need to be." She said into his chest.

"It must be a constant need for you then." Kili said with a loud laugh.

She found herself smiling, despite everything, at the two of them as they pulled her further away from the bars and over towards the rest of the company. Dwalin was cursing, glowering at the bars of the cage, attempting to break them with his war hammer. Balin was talking to Thorin in a rushed panicked voice, both gesturing wildly around them. The rest of them were nursing minor injuries, composing themselves as they glanced worriedly around them.

"I mean, what's so wrong with taking a nice relaxing holiday that doesn't involve falling down the damn ass cr…"

The company had just about gotten themselves back into sorts when they were all interrupted by a loud screech from deep inside the mountain. It echoed around them, sending shivers down all of their spines and silencing all of them within in a millisecond. Emelia immediately reached for her sword, fumbling like a small child, as she backed up towards the two brothers out of reflex. She felt one of them grabbing her roughly by the arm, pulling her behind them so quickly she barely had time to register she had moved. She held her sword, scanning around her with quick, jerky movements. She wasn't actually planning on using her sword. She was still afraid of cutting off her own limb.

The screeching and shouting began to come from all sides, sending the dwarves into a small heap, tripping over each other as they tried to face all sides at once. The cage beneath their feet began to shake as the calls became so loud it was almost deafening. Emelia stumbled slightly, struggling to right herself as the ground shook so violently, it made them lose their footing. The screams didn't cease with each second that passed, making all of the dwarves glance around at each other.

They seemed to know what was coming before she did, as they cursed in a language she didn't understand. She did understand why they were alarmed looking when the creatures came out of nowhere, however. They were pale, just like the ones on the side of the mountain had been, and sickly looking. They were covered in what looked like slime, making them appear much fouler and more disgusting.

Emelia barely had time to try and scramble away from them before she was being roughly grabbed from all sides. They grabbed her sword, wrenching it from her hand so violently, it twisted at an odd angle. They pawed at her, grabbed at her, squeezed her, until she knew her entire body was black and blue. That was the least of her concerns, however. The more pressing matter was the fact that they were dragging her along behind them. There were a least six of the creatures around her, all holding parts of her as they dragged.

She involuntarily screamed, emptying her lungs so quickly she was left with nothing but panic.

Emelia attempted to keep her eyes on the dwarves around her, just to know that she wasn't alone, but she found that the creatures were dragging her so roughly, she couldn't even look back without receiving a rather hardy slap to the face.

They pulled and tugged, not bothering to care when they grabbed her in places that sent painful shivers through her body.

She could hear the dwarves struggling and shouting around her, the sounds of struggled reaching her ears. They were saying foul things, throwing haphazard punches and hits as they attempted to free themselves from the grip of the creatures that were roughly pulling on them. She made the mistake of trying to look again, only to have them grab her hair violently, making her cry out in pain. Tears shot from her eyes as they traveled deeper and deeper into the mountain.

She wasn't exactly sure if they were from pain or fear. It was all running together in her mind, making the events around her that much more terrifying.

The farther into the mountain they got, the more the sounds from the creatures increased. The walls of the mountain were lined with walkways and ladders, all of which were covered in other pale, grotesques looking creatures. They jeered and stamped their feet at the sight of the struggling company, sending intimidating vibrations running through Emelia's body.

They kept pulling and pulling, making her arms feel like they were going to be ripped out of their sockets before they finally stopped, forcing her to the ground. Her knees bruised and blackened from the hard ground. She imagined they weren't even recognizable by this point, considering all of the abuse she had put them through over the last couple of days. They had hit the ground too much, slammed into things too much, to still be functioning at their highest level.

"Well, what do we have here?"

She regretted looking up almost as soon as she did. The man, if he could even be called that, was the ugliest thing she had ever seen. He was uglier than the trolls, which was impressive. He was covered in boils and blisters, some of which popped as he spoke. He had a goiter the size of Texas on his neck that waddled and swung as he spoke, making the bile that Emelia was staring to become familiar with rise back up into her mouth at the sight.

He stumbled down from a throne made of bones, a sickening smile on his face.

"Sneaking in to steal things I suspect. Or perhaps they are here to spy on us. Or maybe they are here to kill us all in our sleep." The man had the nerve to sound affronted as he looked at each of the members of the company. The creatures, goblins as she remembered Fili calling them, around him teemed and tutted in anger, stamping their weapons and feet onto the ground. Some snarled, some spit, and some, the more vulgar looking ones, gnashed their teeth like animals.

"They are dwarves, your malevolence." She heard the voice from somewhere near her.

The man looked over them again, anger marring his ugly face. "What would dwarves be doing in my kingdom?"

No one dared to speak as the man looked over them. Emelia could feel the goblins pushing her into the ground harder, making her knees scream out in protest at the increased pressure. As far as she was aware, she was the only one that was on the ground. All of the rest of them were still on their feet, able to escape if the opportunity came up.

"Well?" The man asked again, louder the second time. He paused again, taking in each and every one of them with a dark look before his gaze finally settled on her.

"Bring her forward." He gestured to her with a meaty hand, stepping back towards his throne. "Maybe they will talk once we make her squawk." He must have thought he was terribly funny, as chuckled slightly at the thought.

The goblins that were holding onto her grabbed her roughly by the hair, hauling her up from her position on the ground before they dragged her closer to the man who was apparently a king. They threw her in front of him, giving her a loud smack to the back of the head for good measure, before they back away, leaving her standing awkwardly in front of him, feeling like she was nothing but an ant waiting to be crushed by the coming boot.

She attempted to step back, only to be stopped by a sharp poke of a weapon to her back, forcing her to hold her position in front of the vile man.

"You're a pretty little thing, aren't you?" He leaned down, a horrible smile twisting his boil covered face.

Emelia knew better than to respond to him.

"I wasn't aware dwarves traveled with their women as a part of their company." He mused, reaching out a large hand to grab her roughly by her middle. He dragged her forward, ignoring the shouts of protest from the company behind her. "Where is your beard I wonder?"

Emelia thought she was going to burst into a soupy mess of tears, sweat, and panic, as she saw him reach up his other hand to her face. He ran one of his fingers along her jaw, not bothering to be gentle as he moved down towards her neck. He paused directly under her chin, smiling in a sick way before he looked over at the company of dwarves behind her. "Tell me, dwarves, do you bring her along for her face, or is it for entirely different reasons?"

Emelia felt her stomach squirm to the nth degree when he kept moving his hand lower and lower along her neck.

"Tell me. Will you talk before I make her scream or after?"

Emelia try to pull back from him, using her arms to push against his hand around her middle. He squeezed her tighter as she struggled to move away from him. She did not like the way he was looking at her, or what he was implying. She did not like the direction his grotesque looking hand was moving, and she didn't like the fact that none of the dwarves were speaking up. She had been through this same thing with the trolls and it made her entire body shake with the memories as her body felt it happening again.

"Stop touching me." The words were out of before she realized she had opened her mouth.

He paused in his movement. He looked down at her for a moment, studying her, before he let out a loud laugh. His log sized finger hovered just above her collar bone, pressing down on her. "Perhaps she will talk if you all do not."

He looked at her for a moment before he moved his hand down to her chest, twisting his hand so that his long, impossibly sharp nail hovered over her skin. He pressed slightly briefly, before he dragged it along at a diagonal on her chest, making her cry out in pain as his nail cut into her tender skin. She felt his ragged nail digging and cutting, making her cry out despite herself. He seemed to derive too much satisfaction from her cries of pain. He moved so slowly, so painstakingly slow that it felt like he was slicing her over and over again. She felt her warm blood spilling out over her chest from underneath the long, jagged cut. It stained her clothes and dripped all the way down over her stomach and over the brim of her black tights.

"Will you let her keep crying?" The Goblin King taunted, pressing his nail into her chest even further, causing her to gasp out in pain. "Will you not talk?"

Emelia couldn't even look over her shoulder at the group of dwarves as the king kept his grip on her. The thought of just telling the king why they were there crossed her mind, just to get him to let go of her. That thought quickly dissipated however. It was sad to say, but she found she feared the wrath of Thorin Oakenshield more than she feared the wrath of the Goblin King. The thought of what Thorin would have done to her if she spilled the beans made her more fearful that the thought of what the Goblin King was currently doing to her.

If that wasn't pathetic, she didn't know what was.

She felt herself slumping slightly into the king's grip as he held her, nail still pressing into the end of the cut he had made.

"Stop!"

The Goblin King looked up from her, the sick smile frozen on his face.

"And who are you, little dwarf?" Emelia could hear the taunting dripping off his words. He moved towards the dwarves, dragging her along with him. He stopped in front of them, sizing them up, before he threw her roughly to the ground, ignoring her cry of pain as she fell to the ground in a heap. "Who are you to speak for this pathetic company?"

She, finally being free of his grip, struggled to scramble back to the relative safety of the dwarves. The goblins around her reached their hands down, slapping and hitting her as she tried to find the safety of at least one of the dwarves. She had managed to make it about three feet before she felt a pair of strong arms reach down, smacking the rough hands of the goblins away, before lifting her up into a standing position. She was rather impressed that she wasn't even remotely close to the verge of passing out. Despite the blood seeping from her chest, she was far too afraid to let herself lose consciousness.

The person holding her reached out a shaking hand, tearing a bit of fabric from their shirt before pressing it against her chest.

"Emmy, hold this to your chest."

Kili kept one of his hands pressed firmly to her back, the other pressed against the fabric and her chest. His hands were shaking slightly as she held her, eyes glancing around as his uncle addressed the Goblin King with malice written all over his face and dripping from every word he spoke. She was shaking struggling to keep her breathing even despite the pain in her chest. He could see the red of her blood blooming out over the cream color of her top. He used his hand to push the top of her shirt down; ignoring the dry look she was giving him, to investigate the severity of the cut. It was shallow, but bleeding profusely.

"Em, take the fabric." He said again, forcing her to reach up a shaking hand to cover his own.

"I told him I wouldn't tell and I didn't." She said feebly, looking over as the Goblin King openly laughed at Thorin.

"What?" He asked, seeing her eyes raking over his own blood stained face. His cut still stung, but that seemed so small compared to the one on her chest.

"You made me come because you thought I would tell. And I didn't. I wouldn't."

He blinked rapidly, confused at her words for a moment before he remembered her words with Thorin back in Rivendell. She had been adamant that she wouldn't tell about their quest, claiming that it was safe to leave her behind. It seemed she had not forgotten that conversation. He had thought she was finally finding herself amongst them, but it appears he had been wrong. All she could think about was the fact that she was forced to be there.

He wasn't sure why, but that made his stomach twinge slightly.

"God, it stings like a bitch." She hissed out, squeezing his hand over her chest tighter.

He couldn't help but smile at her choice of words. She didn't remove his hand from her chest, which was odd considering it was currently hovering dangerously close to a place that would have him slapped if it had been in a different situation. He attempted to have her grab a hold of the fabric he was pressing into the cut, only to have her glare at his so thoroughly he felt his stomach clench up slightly. She felt so very small as he attempted to keep her in a standing position.

As he felt her breathing heavily beneath his hand, sending warm blood over the pads of his fingers, he couldn't help but feel the guilt from rising up in his chest. It had been hard for him, all of them, to stay silent as the Goblin King practically groped her in front of their eyes. He had felt the anger burning in him as he had watched his fingers trail over her, touching her in ways that she shouldn't have been touched. Dwalin had had to hold both him and Fili back from running to her aid when he had begun to cut her. He had seen her blood on the Goblin King's hands making it almost impossible for him to stop rushing forward.

He supposed it was his brother's care for her rubbing off on him that made him so undeniably angry at seeing her in so much pain. Or perhaps it was the fact that she had been rather kind to him over the last couple of days. Or perhaps it was the simple fact that she was the only female amongst them, and despite what she may jokingly think of him, he couldn't sit well with the thought that she was the one taking the brunt of the king's anger, rather than any of them.

"Kee, if we get out of here, remind me to get as far away from all of you as possible." She sounded drunk as she spoke. Her face looked pale, as did the skin on the top part of her chest. Her hair was sticking to her face on both sides, making her look similar to how she had when she was with the trolls.

"I think that seems fair." He pulled her closer to him as she stumbled slightly. "If we get out of here, I will personally see to it that you are safe and sound in a nice comfy place, as far away from us as possible."

She smiled slightly. "It hurts really bad Kee."

"I know. I know it does. But you have to keep looking at me. You have to stay awake and focused on me. I know I'm your favorite so this should be easy for you."

She smiled even wider for a moment at his feeble attempt at a joke before she hissed again as her cut twinged violently.

"Also…" She paused, eyes going out of focus. "I am no…" He felt her losing the ability to hold up her own weight. He could see her resolve slipping as she struggled to keep herself awake. He pressed the fabric into her even harder, feeling her cry out slightly at the pain from her gash.

"Emmy, look at me." Kili shook her, hearing the noise behind him escalating as the king taunted his uncle even further. "You can't fall asleep. Not right now."

He could hear the loud screaming behind him before he felt the whips from the goblins. They smacked across him, and Emelia, causing him to stumble slightly to keep her shielded from the hits. He could feel the dwarves around him fighting back, shouting things and curses. Emelia slumped even further, finally dropping his hand from on top of his. Despite the fact that he could feel the welts on his body from the whips, he still attempted to wake Emelia up.

He looked down at her, struggling to focus in the confusion, before he finally brought his hand up to her face. He shook her, speaking rapidly as he attempted to get her to focus on him.

"Emelia Kinsington Montgomery. You have to stand up." He snapped, feeling the whips bite at his back even more strongly. "You have to stand up."

"You have to fight it."


	20. A Certain Red Head

Emelia did not fight it. She did not wake up after she slumped against Kili, the only signs of life coming from the strangled little puffs of air that fanned out over his chest and up his neck. She had looked up briefly at the bright light coming from Gandalf, a small, slight sound of surprise emitting from her throat before she passed out completely, leaving Kili holding her awkwardly against him. Her hands fell down to her sides, leaving him with the task of pressing the now sopping cloth to her bleeding chest on his own.

Her red hair flopped in front of her now alarmingly pale face as he attempted to get her body into a position that would be easy to control and carry. That proved to be harder than he would have originally thought. She was not heavy, not by a long shot, but he still found her unsupported weight to be unwieldy and stressful. Of course everything was stressful about being trapped in Goblin Town.

Kili struggled to adjust her weight, hearing her cry out involuntarily in her sleep as his hand scrapped along her cut. He flinched, pulling his hand back out of reflex.

He lifted her up, feeling the goblins teeming around him, pawing at both her and him, throwing her over his shoulder. He felt the blood from her wound seeping down his neck, making him cringe outwardly. He imagined she would be cursing him out in the most colorful of ways if she had been awake for the way he was holding her to his body.

The confusion in the hall of Goblin Town was enough to make his brain go slightly fuzzy. There was too much going on to focus on both Emelia and getting out safely. There was too much chaos to focus on all that his mind was requiring him to focus on. He could feel her rib bones jutting out into his skin, pressing painfully into the one part of his shoulder that wasn't as heavily padded as the rest. She moaned slightly in her slumber, sending an odd sensation rushing through his body along with the rumbling from her chest.

He lifted up his hand carefully, swatting hurriedly at the goblins as they attempted to grab her off of his shoulders. They clawed at him, cutting into his skin and leaving horrible, angry red lines all over him. They pulled at his hair, causing him to cry out in pain as they attempted to throw him off balance. Some of them tried to bite him, bite Emelia as he pushed his way through the teeming crowd towards where his weapons were piled haphazardly on the ground. Her arms swung wildly around him, making them easy targets for the now enraged goblins. He could hear the King shouting at his subjects, egging them on to keep attacking the company of dwarves.

Kili didn't need to be told twice by Gandalf to gather up his weapons. He was rather thankful that Emelia was so tiny. Her legs were not in his way as he struggled to get through the throng of goblins, using his free arm to punch at them, as well as his legs to fight his way through the crowd of sickly looking goblins. Her legs swung wildly against him, slapping into him at odd places. She reminded him vividly of the straw dolls him and Fili used to play with before they deemed themselves too manly to play with dolls.

He was reminded, over and over again, of how much he hated goblins as he passed by them one by one. They snarled at him, like caged animals, and spit on him in their attempts to grab him and Emelia.

By the time he reached his weapons, Fili had already scooped them up. He shoved them roughly at Kili, being careful not to hit Emelia in the process. He scanned her quickly, taking in the sweat on her face and the blood weeping out over Kili's clothes.

Fili's own face was covered in small cuts and bruises, making him look much worse for wear than Kili imagined he was. His hair was sticking to the sides of his face, making it curl slightly from the sweat that was dripping down. He moved towards him, swiping his sword at the goblins that were attempting to attack them. The blood splattered thickly over his hands, making him look rather grotesque and intimidating.

"She's not…" Fili trailed off, spinning around and catching an advancing goblin in the neck.

"She is still breathing." Kili managed to ground out, lifting her up slightly to adjust her body.

"We must move." Fili said, glancing over through the mess of goblins at the rest of the company. "We must get out of here."

They had all gathered up their weapons, making them all feel much better about the current situation. They felt themselves more capable of handling the coming problems now that they had their weapons in hand once again. Dwalin was swinging his war hammer around, catching the goblins the face, neck, and chest. They fell to the ground in a heap, allowing him to step over them, or on them, to move towards more of the goblins. Gandalf was shouting orders at all of them, struggling to be heard over the orders that the Goblin King was shouting. Thorin was pushing his way through the crowd towards Gandalf, swinging his sword wildly, blood spattering everywhere he went.

"Kili!" Kili barely had time to turn around before he felt himself being pushed down to the ground. Emelia went flying off his shoulder, landing roughly at the feet of three particularly nasty looking goblins. He looked up, scrambling for his weapons just in time to receive a solid and resounding kick to face.

Stars shot across his vision as he reached out an arm to wrench the goblin that had kicked him down to the ground. It was a small, petty looking thing. It looked terrified as Kili used it to propel himself up into an unsteady standing position. The little goblin pawed at his legs, attempting to drag him back down, before Kili finally managed to bring his sword down in its little stomach, making it slump into the dirty ground with a small little whine of pain.

The shouts and screams in the hall were so loud Kili could hardly hear himself think. He could hardly hear his companions. He could hardly hear anything but the noises of the goblins.

He pushed his way towards Emelia, slashing as he went. He felt his blood boil when he saw the goblins ripping at her clothes and kicking her motionless body. They pulled her hair roughly, making her head move back and forth from the force of their yanks. They paid no mind to the gash on her chest. They still kicked her all the same. He could only imagine the profanities she would be spouting out if she wasn't passed on the floor in a pitiful heap.

He caught himself smiling at the thought as he pushed his way towards her.

Killing the goblins that surrounded her was easier than he would have thought. They didn't even look up from her before he had sliced through all three of them, sending thick, black blood spouting out over his hands and onto Emelia's body. It stood out against the paleness of her skin and the lightness of her traveling clothes. He bent down quickly, shooting furtive glances over his shoulders to see if the company was still struggling to find a way out of their current predicament. Kili reached his hand down underneath her back, lifting her up into a sitting position. She groaned at the movement, making a rush of relief run through him. She was still breathing, still alive.

"Now would be a fantastic time to wake up, Miss Emmy." Kili said, hauling her up over his shoulder once again.

She did not stir at the movement. He didn't expect her to. He was impressed she had stayed awake as long as she had, considering the amount of blood she had lost. She was so tiny; he imagined that any amount of injury would not bode well for her.

"But it is you, so I you couldn't possibly make my life easier." He said the last part more to himself than her. "It just wouldn't be true to your form now would it?"

"Kili, we have to go now!"

He didn't need to be told twice.

He hefted her up higher on his shoulder, pushing his way through the crowd towards the rest of the fleeing company. He could see his brothers hair swinging wildly as he weaved his way through the goblins, slicing them up as they went.

It was rather hard for him to keep track of where he was going as well as keeping track of the goblins nipping at his heels. Dwalin would have been proud of his one handed fighting prowess. He was able to, rather awkwardly and ungracefully, hack his way through the goblins one by one. He pushed them off the narrow walkway, kicked them haphazardly, and sliced through them all the while feeling Emelia breathing shallowly on his shoulder. Kili had seen enough injuries to know that if they didn't find a way to permanently stop the bleeding, Emelia would be in far worse shape than any of them would know how to fix. Oin, even with all of his prowess at healing, would be hard pressed to find a way to make her better.

He would be lying to himself if he said the thought didn't bother him.

It more than bothered him actually.

He clutched onto her more tightly, feeling her hip bones press into him. He was acutely aware, in that moment running through the caverns of Goblin Town, of just how small she had become over the last couple of weeks. He remembered the feel of her middle when he had grabbed her so long ago after the trolls. She had been firmer than she was now. She had muscles and a little extra. Now she felt like nothing. It was odd to him. considering she had been eating at every meal with the dwarves. He could feel bones that weren't meant to be felt, making him feel a sudden rush of pity for the small woman over his shoulder. He wondered why she hadn't complained. It was his experience with woman for them to complain about anything they could get their hands on. They seemed to delight in it. It was perhaps one of the main reasons he hadn't even attempted to court a dwarf woman. They found it to be a prevailing need to complain about his lack of beard. Or his lack of attention to their petty gossip and problems. Or his desire to spend more time with his brother and friends than them. It was odd for him to around someone who didn't mention something as important and vital as not getting enough to eat.

The company continued to bob and weave their way through the caverns, slicing and dicing as they went. Kili shook his head, clearing his rabbit trailing thoughts from his mind.

There would be time to ponder the odd behavior of their female companion at another time.

He hoped.

They shouted to each other in Khuzdul, muttering curse words and expletives as they struggled to make it to the safety of sunshine. It was the only thing that could help them. Help Emmy.

Kili was impressed with his ability to jump and weave through the mess that was the inner workings of Goblin Town. It involved holding onto Emelia's limp body as well as being able to protect himself. His mother would have been screaming at him if she could have seen how close he had been to the edge. He could just imagine her smacking him upside the head for teetering on more than one occasion.

"Is she still breathing?" Kili did not like the tone in his brother's voice. Fili made it sound as if there was a possibility that she wouldn't be. He could hear the strain in his voice as he looked over at Kili. His face was covered in blood splatter, making him appear very haggard and weary. He didn't pause as they ran; only choosing to occasionally glance over at the redhead on Kili's shoulder. Kili could see the panic written all over his face clear as day.

"She is." Kili spluttered out, jumping over a rather large, bleeding goblin, feeling his brother grabbing him by the arm to push him forward.

"Although, if we do not make it out of here, I am not sure for how much longer."

* * *

The first thing Emelia woke up to was a view of a backside that certainly didn't belong to herself. Her first reaction, which she imagined was the first reaction of most people in her situation, was to immediately start trying to move away from said backside. That proved to be more difficult that she had originally thought when she attempted to move her arms for the first time and found them to be woefully useless. The muscle in her chest required to lift herself up was so painfully cut, she found she couldn't even managed to stop her body from swinging back and forth against the unknown persons back. She felt very similar to a ragdoll as they bounced along, a strong arm wrapped around her up thighs with an almost painful grip.

She did not recall, as hard as she wracked her brain for the information, how she ended up being somebody's personal rucksack.

She remembered being cut by the Goblin King. She remembered being spit on and kicked at by the goblins. She remembered Kili snapping at her as he attempted to get her to hold herself up.

She even remembered bleeding more than she would have thought was healthy.

She did not remember being slung over somebody's back, however, or the sunshine that was currently burning the backside of her neck. She felt it peppering in her skin in all the places her hair did not cover it, making it heat up and sweat at the sudden difference in temperature.

Emelia wondered, feeling a large amount of panic rising up in her, just how long she had been out of commission.

She looked down as she bounced, finding it hard to fight the person holding her when she felt as if she hadn't slept in days. Her entire body felt weak and fuzzy. Her chest hurt, blindingly so, every time she breathed, making her let out small whimpers of pain each time she attempted a breath that wasn't shallow.

The person carrying her was strong, obviously, and rather steady on their feet, which she found she was immensely thankful for. Her body did not slam into their back as much as she imagined it would with a different person. She could see a solid smear of red blood standing out on their back from what she assumed could only be her wound. It was in stark contrast to the brilliant blue of the cloak that they wore. A brilliant blue that only one of the dwarves wore.

Kili.

It only made sense that he would be the one carrying her. He had been the one who had grabbed her off the ground first. She had been rambling to him, she recalled, blathering on and on in her pain filled haze. She imagined she had collapsed onto him, rather ungracefully, leaving him with the only option of throwing her over his shoulder.

It wasn't until he skidded to a halt that she finally managed to collect enough strength to look up from pressing her face into his back. She lifted her head blearily, ignoring the now excruciating pain in her chest in an attempt to see where exactly it was that the sunshine was coming from. She distinctly remembered being inside of a mountain. She distinctly remembered there being goblins that wanted nothing more than to eat them all alive.

Apparently, she had missed more than she thought in her time slumped over Kili's shoulder.

"Emmy?" She lifted her head at the sound of the voice. "Thank Mahal." She felt a pair of hands on her lower back, patting her slowly, almost cautiously. "We thought the worst when you fell in the mountain."

"Kee," Emelia felt the dwarf holding her squeeze her legs tighter, pulling her up over his shoulder carefully, before depositing her into a unsteady standing position in front of him. He fixed her with the brightest smile she had seen in a while before pulling her into a very tight, very painful embrace. "Thank you."

She, and apparently he, felt something warm and wet seep down as he pressed her into his chest, making them both step back suddenly. She lifted her hand up to her chest, feeling around with cautious fingers. She had hoped that she had been passed out long enough for her chest to oozing blood.

"You are still bleeding." Kili said, stepping back from her and looking down at her cut. He pulled out a now solid crimson piece of fabric from nowhere before he pressed it into her chest with an almost playful smirk. She looked down at his hand, feeling her eyebrows rise involuntarily as his fingers ghosted closer and closer into dangerous territory. She heard Fili scoffing from somewhere next to them, making her face heat up at the thought that the rest of the company was seeing the interaction between her and Kili.

"I messed up your pretty blue hood." She said, attempting to ease the tension that she was certain all of them were feeling. "Blood isn't very fashionable this season. Or at least that's what I heard."

She felt his fingers flex slightly over her wound, forcing her to step closer. "I can acquire a new one." He apparently missed the joke entirely.

Kili fixed her with the most confusing look she had ever seen as he pressed the fabric into her wound. He laid it out carefully with light fingers, being careful not to rub his calloused skin over the pocked flesh. His hands, as large and blundering as they looked, were so soft, yet firm as he attempted to get her horrendous looking, and feeling, cut to stop letting out fresh spurts of warm blood with every shallow breath she took. His eyes never left hers as he spread the sopping fabric over her chest. She was certain she looked like a tomato. If not from the blood that had leaked over her face from when she was upside down, then from the now horrendously dark blush that was coating her entire body.

"That was quite the display of stubbornness Emmy." Fili said from next to them, interrupting their staring contest. "Very dwarven. How do you feel?"

"I would bow, but considering I'm currently seeping, I think you'll have to take rain check." She paused, seeing him smiling widely at her. "It hurts, more than hurts, but other than that I think I am fine. I am not going to go fainting randomly."

"Oin, do you have anything to fix this?" Fili called over to the old, wizened looking dwarf. Oin, upon hearing only about half of Fili's sentence, turning around suddenly, eyes wide, before lifting up his smashed ear trumpet up to listen in.

"Mix dish?"

"No, fix this." Fili said, gesturing over to where Kili and Emelia were standing facing each other. Emelia glanced over her shoulder, stepping back slightly in the direction of Oin, forcing Kili to follow her in order to keep her balanced.

"What about fish?"

Fili let out a rather colorful curse, turning back around to Emelia and Kili. "Deaf old bat." He muttered darkly under his breath. He stepped closer to them, reaching down to his own shirt. Using one of his black coated knives he cut a thick strip off before handing it to Kili. "Take this, Kee. Oin will be able to look at her later. If we get off the side of this damn mountain that is. Or maybe Gandalf can."

"He's back?" Emelia asked, looking around quickly, only to be met with a rather strong bout of lightheadedness from moving so quickly.

"He showed up just before you passed out." Fili said, looking around at all of the panting dwarves. They appeared to be wildly out of breath and out of sorts as they assessed each other quickly and precisely for injuries.

"Kili, you will have to carry her. We cannot linger or delay this close to nightfall."

Thorin Oakenshield did not look impressed as he marched over to them. For once however, it was not directed at her. He was glancing back up behind Kili, a dark expression marring his normally impossibly hard to read features. He, like the few dwarves that Emelia had gotten the chance to look after waking up rather abruptly, was covered in little cuts and bruises. His shirt was ripped slightly, revealing the dark grey undershirt that he wore underneath. His hair was an atrocious mess, although she imagined hers wasn't much better. All in all he looked the most out of sorts she had seen him in the short time they had known each other.

"Is anyone else hurt?" Emelia asked, seeing the dwarf leader fixing her with a very stern stare. Thorin shook his head, eyeing her for a moments before he turned, walking towards Gandalf.

"No." Kili said, reaching down a cautious arm to wrap around her waist. He lifted her up, smirking slightly as she cursed under her breath at the sudden movement. "We have a certain red head to thank for that, I imagine. You shouldn't have stayed quiet. I mean, you should not have sustained such an injury for…"

"You flatter." She said, feeling her face blush once more. "It's just a flesh wound honestly. It doesn't even hurt anymore."

He didn't get that joke either. In fact, he was quite the opposite. He rolled his eyes at her, scoffing slightly. He knew she was lying as well as she did. It hurt like nothing before. It was like a paper cut meant for elephants, it stung and smarted so bad.

"Emmy, we…"

"Where is Bilbo?" Gandalf, whom Emelia had very little to do, did not look pleased. Even though she wasn't as aware of the emotional range capable on his old face as she was of the dwarves, she imagined this was one of his more intimidating looks. He was looking at each of the dwarves, moving onto the next when they offered up no answer. "Where is our hobbit?"

"I thought he was here." Ori said quietly earning a very sharp look from Gandalf. "He was just here, wasn't he?"

"I thought I saw him…" Nori trailed off looking around the small clearing carefully. Emelia felt Kili tighten his arms around her, making her stomach twinge slightly at the strength of his grip on her.

"He left us. The litt.." Thorin trailed off anger clearly written all over his face. Emelia had seen that look directed over her enough over the last couple of weeks. She had done her best to avoid him like the plague, only speaking to him when it was vitally necessary. Which was never. He was a right nasty bastard and Emelia knew all too well, from all the nasty snippy looks he had given her, when he was being completely serous. He was livid with Bilbo.

"I am right here." A soft voice said, surprising all of those in the clearing by its sudden appearance.

Bilbo Baggins was not gone. He stepped out from behind the tree, looking at them all very cautiously. He looked like he had been through hell and back. His little hands were covered in cuts and bruises, as well as his face and part of his neck. His jacket, which Emelia had always admired as being rather nice and distinguished looking, was in shambles. His pants, which had always reminded her of capri's, were covered in questionable stains giving him the overall appearance of being disheveled beyond belief.

"I am not going anywhere." Bilbo said, pausing as his gaze fell on Emelia for a moment. "I know you all doubt me much more than any in this company. I do not blame you in the slightest. I doubt myself a good majority of the time, if I am being quite honest with you all and myself. I think of my home," Emelia felt her stomach drop slightly as he said that. "Because my home is beautiful, and wonderful, and supremely comforting. It is where I belong, as a Baggins of Bag End, and I miss it more and more every day that passes us by. You do not have a Bag End to go home to, however, and that is why I am here. Your Bag End, while much larger and grander I imagine, was taken from you and I intend to help you get it back if I can."

She wondered vaguely, almost sarcastically, to herself if all those in this world were so supremely wonderful at giving speeches. She made a mental note to find Bilbo the next time they found themselves camping for the night. She rather liked his views of his home. He seemed to be a person, or hobbit, which missed their home as much as she missed hers. She missed the beauty of Kessog, the wonderfulness, the undeniable comfort.

Emelia felt Kili hoist her up slightly.

"Bilbo is rather poetic with his words." She said, feeling Kili chuckle. It sent vibrations running through her body that made her stomach twinge slightly.

"If that sort of thing…"

A howl, that Emelia found she was appallingly familiar with, ripped through the clearing, making them all freeze in there spots like little statues.


	21. Bloody Birds

"Run!"

The dwarves immediately bolted in the opposite direction of the mountain that they had just come from, slipping and skidding on the grassy earth. Emelia bounced roughly in Kili's arms as he slipped and slid down the side of the mountain, his feet catching on the grass occasionally despite his steadiness on his feet. She imagined the whole ordeal would have been substantially easier if they would allow her to walk under her own power. As it were, she felt herself startlingly similar to a child clinging to their parent.

As embarrassing as that was.

Emelia made the rather unfortunate mistake of peering over Kili's bouncing shoulder to see what was chasing them. She had imagined it was the wargs. It was the luck that she was experiencing recently that it would be the wargs again. She immediately regretted her decision to look over his shoulder. The wargs, and their repulsive looking riders, numbered far more than she had ever seen. It looked as if there were thirty of them, each in varying degrees of mess and soil. Some of them were rider less, the more feral ones she assumed, and were moving towards them at a speed so fast she was surprised the company hadn't been set upon already.

The bouncing motion of Kili's running was doing nothing for the stinging in her chest, making her cry out occasionally in pain.

She could hear the scrapping of their paws on the ground, the snapping of their rider's whips cracking onto their mounts backs.

The dwarves around her were panicking, which she deemed to be entirely appropriate, as evidenced by their horrified looks and tense body language. They bobbed and weaved throughout the trees, throwing haphazard glances over their shoulders at the pack advancing on them. They brandished their weapons, gripping them so tightly in their hands their impossibly big knuckles turned white.

"All of you, into the trees!"

Emelia could feel Kili gripping her tighter for a moment before he literally threw her to the nearest dwarf. She watched him as he swung himself up onto a branch rather gracefully, before reaching down to the dwarf, who happened to be a very nervous looking Dori, and scooping her up into the tree next to him. She hissed loudly when she felt the bark of the tree rubbing along her chest, once again reminding her that she hadn't, in fact, managed to do anything about her now throbbing cut.

She felt his hands, which were shaking more than she would have liked, grabbing onto her, pulling her into his side. She felt another pair of hands wrapping around her shoulders, steadying her swaying body. She glanced over, feeling relief wash over her when she saw a shock of blonde hair. The tree swayed horribly beneath her feet, making her heat stop and her chest constrict painfully. She could hear the dwarves around her shouting to each other, encouraging each other, calming each other in desperate tones.

She reached her hands out, grabbing a hold of Kili so tightly she saw him wince slightly. He reached down a hand, releasing the death like grip she had on his wrist before he pulled her hand up to his face, planting a soft kiss to her hand like it was nothing.

"Breath, Emelia." He said looking directly at her. "Everything will be fine."

She nodded blearily, staring at her hand, feeling her face heat up like fire.

"Trust me."

She nodded to him once before she turned her gaze away. He didn't let go of her hand, which was an immense comfort that she didn't realize she needed.

Emelia tried to keep her gaze ahead of her, instead of on the pack of wargs now circling the bottom of the trees like vultures. Their claws made horrible, nauseating sounds as they scrapped along in the dirt, grass, and stone that lined the bottom of the tree line. Their barks and growls filled her mind, tumbling around over and over again until she thought her head might explode.

She had thought, rather briefly that the wargs were the worst to come. It was a rather foolish thought, if she was being perfectly honest with herself. Nothing every stayed vanilla with the dwarves she found herself running around with.

The first glimpse she got of the white warg, she thought she was hallucinating. It was larger than any of the others, with large scratches and a metal collar adoring its neck. Its paws looked as if they were larger than plates and its leg muscles stood out so much, the thick white fur covering its body wasn't enough to cover it up. She followed the line of its side, taking note of the massive rib cage, before she finally settled on the equally white leg that was wrapped around the warg's middle.

The orc riding the white warg made her blood run cold. He was larger than the others and about a million times meaner looking. His body, his massive, muscle bound body, was covered in symmetrical scars that stretched the expanse of his torso and down his arms. His muscles, which bulged so much she was surprised his skin hadn't split from the pressure, moved with fluidity that she wouldn't have thought possible as he moved towards them. His hand, or hook, was covered in blood that she sincerely hoped didn't belong to anything that wasn't supposed to be dead to begin with. His face, which she found was as equally covered in scars. It wasn't the scars, despite their intimidation factor, were not the most alarming part of his face. It was his blue eyes. They shone out brightly, almost too brightly, against his pale skin.

"Is that…" Kili trailed off, pulling Emelia into him tighter.

"It can't…"

"Is he someone you guys know, because if so, you might want to reevaluate your friendships." Emelia said, attempting to move backwards away from him as he moved towards the company trapped up in the tree line.

"Azog." Fili breathed out, his chest shuddering slightly as he did so.

The white orc, or Azog, moved towards them, a sick smile splitting his face. He began to speak in a voice that Emelia was positive was going to be in her nightmares, if she ever managed to fall asleep, for some time to come. He was speaking, like the dwarves so often did, in a language that Emelia couldn't even begin to try and identify. The tone was harsh and grating, but the meaning was clear by the way the rest of the dwarves tensed up around her.

He spoke very briefly before he said something that made all of the wargs circling the trees go into a frenzy. The wargs immediately began to jump at the bottom of the tree, clawing and biting at the branches causing the entire tree to shake and sway uncontrollably. Emelia could hear the groaning of the tree as it moved back and forth. It sounded like it was going to snap more than once, making the familiar dread rise up into her chest so thoroughly it was almost painful. She found, thanks in no small part to the fact that the place she was currently standing was so dangerously close to collapsing, that she wasn't feeling the pain in her chest quite as thoroughly.

They kept going until the integrity of the tree was no longer what she, or anyone for that matter, would even consider remotely safe. It creaked and groaned, reverberating through her completely.

"Fili, it's going to fall." Kili said suddenly, looking down at the wargs that were getting closer and closer to them. The tree was swaying unsteadily beneath them, lurching backwards with each movement from the wargs below their feet. It swayed once more before snapping completely sending it flying towards the nearest tree behind it in a terrifying whirlwind of flying leaves, branches, and pine cones.

"Move!"

Emelia found herself, yet again, being hefted up into a pair of arms so quickly she didn't even realize it was happening. She saw Fili throw himself at the nearest branch in the next tree, wrapping himself around it, clambering with his arms to ensure that he wouldn't go falling to the warg pack below them. She watched for a moment before she was literally thrown through the air towards the dwarves in the other tree. She barely had time to think before she was being wrapped in a pair of impossibly muscular arms, steadying her completely.

"I got you, Lassie."

"Keep moving!"

Emelia felt, at that point in the ordeal, that she was nothing more than a package that was being tossed from dwarf to dwarf. Names were being called back and forth, adding to the confusion of the entire situation. Everything was chaos. The wargs kept moving up the tree, biting, slashing, and clawing to get to the dwarves the best they could. Emelia lost track of which dwarf she was clinging to in the fray, making it almost impossible to focus on anything. The only time she stopped being tossed back and forth was when she finally landed in Dwalin's arms. They teetered on the edge of one of the lower branches, making her stomach queasy as she got a firsthand glimpse at how close she was to the wargs below them. She could have sworn one of them bite off a piece of her hair. Of course she could have just been making that up in one of her more macabre moments.

She heard Gandalf shouting above her, causing all of the dwarves on the various branches to look up at the grey clad man. Emelia managed to peer around from her spot slung over Dwalin's massive shoulder just in time to see the fiery pine cones go flying past her head. They bounced at the wargs, colliding with their furry coats, making them whine out in pain when it began to singe them down to their undoubtedly mottled skin. She could see the dry ground beneath light up like kindling. The smell wafted up to them almost instantly, singing their noses and making sweat spring up on their dirty skin.

They ran, more akin to puppies and full grown wargs, making some of the dwarves cry out in joy at the sight.

The celebration was short lived, however.

They had barely had time to even crack a smile when they felt the tree they were on let out a loud, alarming groan.

It was like a slow motion movie as the tree tipped over the side of the cliff that Emelia hadn't been entirely aware of being so close. Emelia reached her arms around Dwalin, ignoring the way his armor pressed into her cut excruciatingly as they fell. She let out an embarrassingly high pitched scream, gripping onto the burly dwarf even tighter when she got a glimpse at the vast expanse that spread out below her. She couldn't even make out the bottom. The wind whipped at her face, making her eyes water painfully.

By the time the tree snapped to a halt, all of the dwarves were in varying degrees of precarious balance. Some were seated on the branches, others were handing off using their broad shoulders to hold themselves up, and a select few, the lucky ones, were able to support themselves with their legs. The unlucky ones, specifically Emelia, found themselves clinging like a lemur to the lower half of a very annoyed Dwalin.

He swung dangerously, causing her to have to grip to him tighter, pressing herself into him tighter, ignoring the fact that she was now face to crotch with one of the most crotchety, grouchy dwarves in the bunch.

She would have to apologize to him later, if there was a later, for not dropping her.

"Lassie, stop yer squirming!" Dwalin snapped, peering down at her as she attempted to move to where she wasn't wanting to die from the pain on her chest. "You aren't the lightest…" He trailed off; readjusting his grip on the tree branch they were hanging off of.

"I am not fat, Dwalin."

"'S'not the time, Emelia."

She shut her mouth after that. She supposed he was right. It wasn't exactly appropriate to be snarking at him when they were literally hanging over a chasm like Christmas tree ornaments.

"Just…" She paused, trying not to look down while she held onto him. "Just don't drop me."

"I'm not going to drop you…" He trailed off muttering something foul under his breath as he readjusted his grip, causing them both to sway dangerously.

"Oh god." Emelia smashed her eyes shut, willing herself to be anywhere but where she was.

Her arms were starting to lose feeling as she grabbed onto the back of Dwalin's coat, pulling on one of the straps that lined his back. Of all of the ways she had been in danger of dying in the last couple of months, she never imagined she would have plummeted to her death. It seemed like such a trope. Such a cheesy, nauseating, terrifying trope. She had made the mistake of looking down, sending fresh waves of panic coursing through her. It was the whole experience with the stone giants. Again. She pushed the thought that she was currently handing above a thousand foot drop from her mind.

The sounds bounced around in her head.

The laughter from the orcs.

The cries from the company.

The crackling of the fire.

"Thorin! No!"

Emelia chanced a glance up from Dwalin, peering around until she was just able to see the edge of the cliff that their tree was balanced on. She could just barely make out the shapes of the dwarves jumping towards the fire, shouting things to each other, throwing things, dodging straw wargs. Dwalin began to struggle even more, causing her to sway and slip further down, making his pants slip slighting under her weight.

"Dwalin, I swear to god, if you didn't put on underwear…"

"Lassie!" She shut her mouth once again, pulling herself towards him even more.

The cries from the rest of the company got even louder for some reason she couldn't see. Dwalin started to move even more, attempting to pull them both up, only to break the branch they were relying on entirely with a loud, resounding snap. Emelia let out an involuntary scream as her and Dwalin dropped. Her chest felt like it was being split once again as she struggled to maintain her grip on the swinging dwarf. Her legs swung below her, kicking violently as she attempted to push herself up.

"Dwalin!"

"Stop. Moving." Dwalin snarled down at her, struggling to keep his hold on the steadily breaking branch. "I swear to Mahal if you do not stop moving Emelia Montgomery…"

"We're about to die Dwalin!" She was on the verge of tears by that point, using Dwalin's clothes in an attempt to dry her face. "We're about to die. Oh god, I am going to…"

The moment that the branch actually broke was rather anticlimactic if she was being honest. The falling motion, which was her honest to god least favorite thing in life was altogether short lived and brief. One moment she was falling, still clutching onto Dwalin, who would have been embarrassed if the company could have heard him screaming, and the next she was colliding roughly with an oddly solid, oddly soft object. Her breath was knocked out of her so suddenly, she thought she might have blacked out. That thought quickly vanished when she realized it wasn't her own blackness she was seeing. It was the back of Dwalin's clothes that her face was being roughly pushed into.

She was still screaming, despite herself, and only managed to stop when Dwalin shoved her roughly in the side in an attempt to get her to quiet her hysterical self.

She stayed like that for what felt like an eternity before Dwalin finally pushed her off, fixing her with a very wary look. She looked at him for a moment, eyes scanning his tattoo covered face. She could still feel the adrenaline coursing through her from the fall, making her emotions that much more heightened and much more embarrassing. If she had been thinking clearly she wouldn't have ever even considered throwing her arms around his neck, crushing herself into him. Nor would she have even fathomed giving him a solid kiss to the cheek.

The thought would have made her squirm.

As it were they both just had to settle for avoiding eye contact for the remainder of their time together.

She chanced a glance down, just to see if her being alive was real or just a cruel trick.

It was real, it seemed, and very unexpected.

They were not only alive, and relatively well, but they were flying. On birds. Bloody birds.

Bloody, huge birds.

The ridiculousness of everything in this place was astounding, at the best of times.

"Lassie…"

"Dwalin, you didn't drop me." She said suddenly, interrupting him completely, while doing her best to keep her gaze firmly planted on anywhere but the ground slipping below them. She was afraid she would pass out if she looked there for too long.

Dwalin was silent for a moment, shifting uncomfortably in his spot on the bird for a moment before he spoke up in his deep, gravelly voice.

"You stayed silent with the Goblin King, didn't you?" He said, as if it was the simplest thing in the world. "You didn't talk to end the pain."

She wasn't sure how to respond to that. Emelia found that was happening more and more. She was forced to grab a hold of him when the bird took a particularly unplanned dive. She wrapped her arms around his barrel-like middle, squeezing him for dear life.

"It wasn't that big of a deal…"

"It wouldn't be to you, now would it?" He placed a tentative hand on her arm, patting it slowly, awkwardly. "But it was to us. We aren't just going to forget about something like that."


	22. Hannah's Girl

Hannah Montgomery had always considered herself to be a rather proud and independent woman. She had been told that from the time she was old enough to fathom and process what those, seemingly, long words meant, and she had decided to hold it dear to her ever since.

She liked to think it was part of the reason she had caught Fred Montgomery's eye. In her more teenage girl-like moments she liked to think her strong personality was what set her apart from the droves of women that seemed to always be flocking and swooning over Fred. She had quickly realized, after many long nights of doubting whether she was even remotely appealing enough to look at, she was not exactly far off in her assumption. Fred was almost too handsome for his own good. He was tall, almost inhumanly so, and so thickly built Hannah had been surprised more women didn't surround him everywhere he went. He was a ginger, which had delighted her and still delighted her to this day, making her insides feel like warm goo. It had surprised her, how quickly she had fallen for him, how much him simply looking at her made her feel like she was floating through a thick mess of hormones and ideas she wouldn't have mentioned to even her closest friends.

Hannah, who was born a Kinsington, was never meant to go to Alaska. She was never meant to do a lot of things, if she was being perfectly honest.

It had been her mother, Jane, who had suggested she take the trip. She had just graduated from high school, a rather unfortunate four years that yielded nothing more than self-esteem issues and an undeniable hatred for math, school lunches, and cheerleaders. High school had been so depressingly like the movies it made her cringe to think about. Her mother, after seeing the cynical ball of sarcastic comments and cynical outlook that was her daughter, funded a little trip to one of the more serene places she could think of.

Alaska would not have been Hannah's choice. She was born and raised in the aristocratic side of Louisville, Kentucky, surrounded by horses on all sides. It was warm, which Hannah loved, and smelled of hay. Alaska, to her knowledge at the time, did not even have hay. She wasn't even sure if it had grass.

She wasn't one to turn down a free trip, a trait she had maintained into her reluctant adulthood, so she had packed her bags full of clothes she had thought would keep her warm and left.

She had first spotted Fred in the little town, Kessog, when she was attempting to navigate a way back home. She assumed her mother, her rather clueless mother, had never intended to send her to the literal middle of nowhere.

Jane had, however, which resulted in Hannah being hopelessly, depressingly, mind-numbingly lost.

And cold.

Fred, whom she had learned was one of the local favorites, had been manning a smelly fish stand in the dismally small town square when she had first spotted him.

It was his hair that had first stuck out to him. It had appeared so red, so vibrant against all of the dull colors that surrounded him. He had appeared so vibrant, which had sound ridiculous to her at the time, but she couldn't help but think it.

He hadn't noticed her, naturally, only going on about his business in a manner that Hannah couldn't help but admire.

It had taken her almost all of her allotted vacation time to pluck up the courage to go talk to him. She had come up with the rather crafty, or what she thought was crafty, plan to go buy a fish from him. She hated fish, making the entire task seem that much more daunting. She wasn't even sure what to ask for when it came to fish. He had smiled at her when she had approached, the skin crinkling around his eyes pleasantly. The lines were still there, even when he didn't smile, to this day. She was not ashamed to admit that his smile made her insides fuzzy.

Fred had offered her about a hundred different types of fish, smirking at the grimace on her face with each new offer, before they arrived at the conclusion that she didn't exactly enjoy fish at all.

She hadn't left after that, staying and talking to him as he sold fish and attempted to make her laugh.

She didn't even mind that he was far too old for her.

She didn't even mind that he smelled like fish.

She found that she didn't mind anything about him.

Fred had asked her to stay, much to the talk of the town. She had paid for an extra two weeks in her constantly cold hotel room. Her mother hadn't asked questions at first. Hannah had been so miserable in high school, her mother did not question when she wanted to stay out in the peace and quiet of Alaska. Jane had never even imagined the possibility that Hannah wasn't staying for the peace and quiet at all. She had stayed, and still stayed, for Fred.

Looking back on it, Hannah would have said Fred viewed her as a fling. She was hardly a supermodel, with her too thick auburn hair and freckly face. She was short, and awkwardly skinny, making her feel so self-conscious at the best of times, she worried if he even felt anything for her at all. That thought had quickly subsided, almost embarrassingly quickly. The town talked, everyone talked, about them. It was rather scandalous, considering how young she was and how foreign, so to speak. She had hated it at first, but she found over time, she rather liked the scandal. It was so exciting, so invigorating, so Fred.

She didn't go back home to Kentucky.

She had never really intended to, if she was being honest with herself.

She hadn't known where she was going to end up, seeing as how she had no marketable skills, but she did know she wasn't going back.

Her mother had been appalled when she found out that Hannah wasn't coming home. She had been even more appalled when she learned she was shaking up with a man closer to her age than her daughters. She had been shockingly appalled when she learned she hadn't been invited to the wedding.

Hannah couldn't really bring herself to care, as cold as it made her sound.

Fred was her person, she had decided, and at the time he was all that mattered. At the time, he had been her everything. He made her feel beautiful, despite her insecurities, and strong.

He made her feel strong in a way that had only ever bubbled under the surface. She had been strong before she met him, but after she found she felt almost invincible.

She had felt invincible when she had given birth to her first child, Emelia. Her beautiful, perfect little Emelia. She had her father's eyes, which delighted her, and his hair. She had her freckles, and her height, and her slightness. Emelia had made Hannah feel even stronger, prouder with each day she was in their lives. Her perfect little Emelia had made Hannah feel like she accomplished something.

When she didn't come back out of the water, Hannah felt like that was gone.

She had felt like everything was gone, if she was being honest.

She had screamed at the black water until her throat had run dry, desperately waiting for Emelia to come back. She had tried to jump into the water to grab her, her little baby, only to be held back by her husband. His hands had left bruises on her hips from the force he had had to use to hold her back. He had to practically tackle her to stop her from throwing herself in.

Hannah was ashamed to admit that she wasn't sure which child to pay attention to. The one who had disappeared or the one who was freezing to death. She had chosen Edward, of course, grabbing him and pressing her into her body while still desperately trying to see Emelia's vibrant red hair floating in the water. She had felt the water from Edward's clothes seeping into her own as she crushed him into her chest, desperately calling out to Emelia.

Her Emelia.

She had descended into body racking sobs, pressing hurried kisses to Eddy's cold face as she tried to find Emelia. She wouldn't ever be aware, she was sure, of how long she stayed like that.

Her Emelia.

Her beautiful smart, sassy, Emelia.

She would have stayed there for ages, screaming Emelia's name if it hadn't been for Fred pulling her back, horribly hidden tears staining his face. He had pulled her back, pulling Eddy into his arms, pushing himself into a standing position. He had to yell at her to get her to stop screaming, to stop wracking her body on the ice like a child. He had had to tell her that Emelia was gone. His entire face had been covered in tears as he looked into the ice, clutching Eddy's shaking form into him.

He had been so logical, so controlled as he attempted to get the situation under control.

The situation wouldn't ever be under control, however. Losing a child was chaos. It was pain. It was stifling, crippling, never-ending pain.

Emelia was in pain, had been in pain, Hannah imagined.

Hannah had imagined a lot of things. She had imagined the vacation to Italy that she always wanted to take. She had imagined Eddy discovering football for the first time. She had imagined her mother's face when she saw the life Hannah had built in Alaska. She had imagined Fred's face when his good looks finally succumbed to age and wrinkles. She imagined how appalled she would be when she found her first grey hair amongst all the auburn.

She had never imagined that her child, her Emelia would die before her.

Never so much pain.

She never imagined that her Emelia wouldn't come back to her.

* * *

Dwalin was rather tactful, considering, in his dealings with Emelia clinging to him like a lemur. He had grunted slightly in the beginning, trying to pry her shaking arms from around his middle, before he had settled into begrudging acceptance. She heard the rumbling grumbles as she pressed her face into his back even more, willing them to all be on solid ground again. She wasn't entirely fond of the way the bird, the overly massive bird, she was on liked to dip unexpectedly.

It felt like an eternity before she finally felt the wind pick up, forcing her to look up from Dwalin's back.

She had to shut her eyes against the wind as they moved farther down towards, what she hoped, was solid ground for her to stand on. It whipped against her face, biting against her skin before she finally smashed her face against Dwalin's again.

"I hope this won't become a habit, lassie." Dwalin grumbled out, peering over his shoulder at her as she attempted to will her mind anywhere else. Anywhere but the heights.

"Shut up, Dwalin." Emelia snapped, sending a very dark look his way.

It wasn't long before Emelia finally felt the bird they were on slow down long enough for Dwalin to pull them both off, holding her to him as he hopped to the ground in a much more graceful motion that Emelia would have expected out of him. Her chest twinged painfully as they collided with the ground. Dwalin deposited onto her unsteady feet, patting her shoulder roughly, before sprinting over to the other side of the small plateau type outcropping they found themselves on.

Her legs shook, despite her best efforts, making her stumble slightly.

"Thorin!"

She looked around at the panic in the voice, placing a shaking hand on her chest. It no longer bled, yielding instead to a sharp stinging pain that traveled much farther than the parameters of the cut. She felt the dried blood flaking off, like gruesome pant, sticking to her fingers as she attempted, rather foolishly, to press away the horrible stinging pain. She faced way from the dwarves, ears listening to them as they fretted over their fallen leader, taking the sounds of relief when he sat up in his volition. It didn't surprise her that Thorin was fine. He was a stubborn bastard. Dying didn't seem like a thing he would let happen on someone else's terms. She finally turned to face them when she felt a hand on her shoulder.

All of the dwarves, with the notable exception of Thorin, looked far better than she did. They had cuts and bruises on their faces, and some of them were nursing what appeared to be sore limbs, but for the most part they appeared to be in relatively good spirits. Ori, the owner of the timid hand, smiled widely at her, pulling her over to where the rest of the company was looking.

She stumbled over, leaning heavily on Ori, before taking a spot between him and Fili.

"Our home."

Their home, which Emelia hadn't the foggiest what it looked like, appeared to be the tiny little blip in the distance. The very far distance.

It was pointy, as she expected a mountain to be, and almost impossible to see. All of the dwarves seemed to be in awe of it, despite her less than inspired feelings, moving closer towards the edge, large smiles on their dirty faces. They clasped each other on the shoulders, shaking and celebrating. She honestly couldn't really understand why they were so happy, but she didn't really understand dwarves so she didn't put too much stock in it.

Thorin was smiling, which up until that point she had thought he wasn't capable of, so she decided the blip in the distance was a good thing. A very good thing.

They stared for a moment longer before Oin, still using his ear trumpet despite its pathetic state, pulled Thorin over to the side to take a look at his wounds. Emelia couldn't help but smile at the colorful swear words that came out of Thorin as he protested, claiming he was fine through his obvious winces and grimaces. It did not fool Oin, or Gandalf for that matter, resulting in him sitting down heavily onto the grassy earth on top of the plateau.

"We will camp here for the night." Gandalf said, much to the relief of all of the dwarves. "Thanks to the hospitality of the Eagles."

Emelia would not have called the bloody pigeons who took delight in terrifying people eagles, but that was just her.

Some of the dwarves went out in search of food, others set to work trying to find wood for the fire, while others still curled up into themselves and immediately went to sleep. Gandalf, being Gandalf, had slipped away from them, leaving her in only the company of the dwarves and the little hobbit, who was snoozing comfortably by the warm fire.

Emelia couldn't help but stand there awkwardly as she watched the dwarves perform surprisingly domestic duties. It was odd to see them laughing with each other, when not long ago they were literally handing from a tree over a seemingly never ending chasm. They forgot so quickly, so much more quickly than she could. They seemed to forget the Goblin King and his manky nail, when all she could do was stand there and rub her hand over her chest blearily. She could feel the torn and dirty fabric of her shirt scrapping across it, catching on some of the more haggled skin.

She stood in her spot, eyes out of focus for far longer than she expected when she felt a light pair of her hands on her shoulders, making her jump so violently her chest twinged even more.

"I did not mean to scare you, Emmy."

Emelia rolled her eyes, turning around to face a laughing Kili. His hands remained on her shoulders as his eyes scanned her, pausing for what felt like an eternity on her chest. His hands moved from her shoulders, sliding down her arms before resting on her hands.

"Oin said he would look at you next."

Emelia did not miss the cheeky look Fili sent her and Kili as he led her across the now makeshift camp. He was sitting on his cloak, cleaning off his swords as he eyed the two of them walking slowly towards the rock Thorin was leaning against. It was Emelia could do not to pull her hand out of Kili's. She didn't like the look Fili was giving her. She didn't like the smirk that was now dominating his face. She didn't like the way he roguishly winked at Kili when he thought she wasn't looking. She dropped his hands, pulling both of hers up to her chest, feigning pain.

Thorin looked up at the two of them when they approached, peering around from behind Oin as he attempted to clear up the rest of his wounds.

He did not look angry, which made Emelia feel instantly better despite the fact that he was currently shirtless.

And appallingly hairy.

Emelia eyed him for a moment, before she felt Kili fumbling with the clasps on her cloak. He pulled it off in a smooth motion. He placed in on the ground next to Thorin, patting his uncle on the shoulder, completely ignoring the glare he received. He looked at his uncle for a moment before turning around and helping Emelia into a crossed legged position next to Thorin.

"Would you three like dinner?" Kili asked, eyes still on Thorin.

"Winner?"

Emelia had to fight the giggle from escaping her lips as both Kili and Thorin rolled their eyes at Oin.

"Yes." Emelia said, leaning back heavily into the rock. She imagined she would feel immensely better once she had some food in her stomach. "And some water."

Kili nodded once before turning on his heel and heading over to the fire that the rest of the company was either sleeping by or laughing by. Emelia watched him go, taking in the large brownish red stain on his blue hood. She felt her stomach squirm as she looked at it.

If she had any money, she would have bought him a new one.

"Well then Lassie." Oin interrupted her staring; pulling her back to the two surly dwarves she was with. "Let us take a look see. May I?" He indicated her shirt pointing with his now gloveless hand.

She nodded once, leaning back until she was pressed against the cool rock completely. She felt his fingers peeling back her soiled shirt just enough to examine the wound. The cool air snipped at it, making her cringe out in pain. She chanced a glance down, only to instantly regret it. The cut, while not bleeding, was not something she would have wanted to look at. The skin was puckered around it and an odd color that she would not have expected. The skin farther out from the cut was alarmingly pale and sickly looking, making her think that she probably should have done something to stop the bleeding sooner. Oin let out a low whistle as he moved his hands along the edges, pausing every so often. She did not like the look on his wrinkled face as he paused at the deepest part of the cut.

"Will it need to be sewn?" Thorin asked suddenly, alerting Emelia to his continuing presence. He looked much paler than she ever remembered seeing him.

"Hmm?" Oin looked up from her, readjusting his kneeling position.

"Her cut. Will it need sewing?"

Oin looked thoughtful for a moment. "I am afraid so. I will have to put a few herbs in to pull out the poison that was undoubtedly on his nails, but yes."

Thorin let out a heavy sigh, readjusting his position for a moment before he reached his hands down to grab a hold of his belt. Emelia eyed him for a moment, thoroughly alarmed before she saw him hand it to Oin.

"Is there any ale?" Thorin asked, ignoring Emelia as she looked back and forth between them, reminding him of a particularly terrified deer.

"I believe my brother keeps something a bit stronger on him."

"Gloin!" Gloin looked up from his post next to Nori and Dori, whipping a stray line of grease from his chin. He stood up immediately at seeing Thorin looking at him. "Bring your drink."

All of the dwarves looked over to the three huddled by the rock. Emelia felt their eyes on her, trailing down to her blood stained shirt. Fili and Kili immediately shot up from their spots, hurrying over before sitting down on her unoccupied side. She could see Ori conversing with his older brothers, shooting her pitying glances. Even Dwalin looked at her with a small amount of pity in his eyes. Balin followed after Fili and Kili, bring his heavy cloak with him.

"This will twinge a bit, Lass." Oin said, drawing her attention back over to him. He pressed something oozy and green into the length of her cut. She let out an involuntary hiss of pain as his thick fingers pressed the substance deeper in. He patted it with what she assumed was his attempt at gentle hands, before he turned away from her, reaching around in his large belt and coat. She felt her panic rising with each moment. They were talking about sewing her, without morphine, or anything remotely similar.

"I think I will be fine without…" She hissed even louder when Oin turned back around, patting even more oozy stuff into her skin.

"Emelia, that will kill you if it is left untreated."

She looked over to Thorin, seeing him slip his short over his wide chest. "I will be fine. I swear. I've always been told I'm sc…"

Thorin interrupted her pathetic attempt at squeaky with a severe look. "I will be the judge of that. Are you telling me, Emelia Montgomery, that you are brave enough to face a Goblin King, but not a small needle?"

"I didn't plan on the Goblin King. He was just an unhappy accident." Emelia managed to breathe out, keeping her gaze on Oin as he managed to fine a bit of string and a needle from seemingly nowhere. "I swear, this isn't necessary."

"You will die." Thorin deadpanned.

"Less trouble for you then." Emelia thought her heart was going to explode when she saw Oin stomping over to the fire, before sticking the tip of the needle into the dancing flames.

"You are far less trouble than I thought you would be." Thorin said, his voice sounding very strained. "I would not want, or intend, for you to perish."

"Is that your form of an apology?" Emelia asked, looking around at him, balancing herself on shaking arms. "Because it sucked."

"Emelia." Thorin, shook his head, placing his large hands on his forehead. She knew that look well enough to know when she was causing someone unwelcome stress.

"It will not take long, Emmy." Fili interjected, patting her trembling shoulder.

"There has to be another way." Emelia said, attempted to push herself back from Oin as he made his way back to them. "Clever bandaging, maybe, psychic healing, something."

Oin bent down in front of her, handing the needle to Thorin, before he carefully cleaned out the green goop. He threw it to the ground in a mushy, bloody, clump, before he turned back to look at her. He eyed her for a moment, finally setting down his hear trumpet. He reached his hand over to Gloin, snapping his fingers, as Gloin rummaged around, producing an ornate looking flask. Oin opened it, taking a small swing for himself, before he poured it over her wound, causing her to cry out at the unexpected pain. He had the decency to look apologetic before he reached for the belt.

"You will want to bite on this." He said, indicating for her to open her mouth. "You will also need to lean back."

She glanced around for a moment, already biting down on Thorin's belt out of sheer panic and anticipation, before she settled on supporting herself on her arms on the side of the rock. She sat there briefly before a pair of hands lifted her up just long enough for someone to slide in behind her, pressing her against a very hard plated chest.

"You can hit me for this later."

If she hadn't been shaking so much she would have smiled up at Kili.

"It will be over before you know it, Emelia." Gloin sounded gruff as he took a seat on the ground, offering her a very Gloin-ish smile. She nodded blearily, her entire body shaking like a leaf, as she eyed the needle Oin was pointing at the far side of her gash.

She was more than thankful for the belt when the needle stuck through her skin for the first time. It was like getting a shot on steroids. Oin leaned over her as she pressed herself back into Kili, tears involuntarily sliding down her cheeks as she cried into the belt. She felt his hands pressing soothing circles into her stomach and arm. She screamed more than once, attempting to flee more than she would like to admit as he continued sewing with a very practiced hand.

She lost awareness of Kili's hands on her first, followed by the pain in her teeth from clenching them so tightly. She then lost awareness of the cold air, shortly before she saw nothing but Oin pursing his lips as he worked over her.

She probably would have picked someone besides Oin, but beggars couldn't be choosers when passing out for what felt like the hundredth time in her journey with the dwarves.

* * *

"Son of a bitch!"

The first sign that she wasn't sleeping and dreaming still was the loud laugh from the opposite side of the now ember filled fire. She sat up from her spot next to it: a spot that she didn't remember moving to. Her now sutured wound stung horribly as she looked over at Kili. He was sitting closer to the edge than she would have liked, eyeing her as she moved blearily and grandmother-like over to him. Her chest, which had been bandaged up all the way across her breasts was smarting horribly. She did not even want to imagine who, or how, the bandages as made it all the way across her chest.

"God, this hurts so bad."

Kili shifted slightly, allowing her to sit down next to him on his laid out cloak. He was the only dwarf awake, resulting in a pleasant symphony of snores around them as she lumbered down to the ground, letting out loud unladylike groans.

"Why are you awake?" She asked, curling her legs up underneath her.

He looked over at her for a moment, taking in her tired expression and pale face. Her hands involuntarily went up to her chest, fingers running smoothly over the line where he knew a scare would form. She flinched slightly, removing her hands before she looked at him full on. Her hair was rather messy from her impromptu and unplanned sleep, sticking to her face in odd places and patterns. Her shirt, which she had been forced to keep wearing, sat awkwardly on her, sticking to the bandage in odd places.

"I am on watch."

"Would you like some company?" She asked, smiling slightly at him. "I still need to hit you from earlier."

"If that is the only reason…" Kili trailed off, smiling at her in the dim moonlight. She shoved him playfully, letting out a regretful groan of pain, before she fixed her tired gaze on the lone peak ahead of them above them.

"Is that Erebor?" She pointed to the lone peak.

"Yes."

"It is smaller than I imagined."

He let out a small laugh, giving her an appreciative look.

She eyed it for a moment, lips pursed in thought. She placed her hands together in her lap, rubbing them together, seemingly to weigh her options before she finally spoke in a timid voice, moving her gaze to the large moon.

"It is dark for half of the year where I am from with the moon being the most predominant thing in the sky."

Kili looked over at her, surprised she was spontaneously sharing so much.

"It is rather nice, I suppose. It makes you appreciate the sunshine more that way. My mother," Emelia ran her fingers over the fabric on her pants, smoothing circles into them. "Used to like to set off sparklers and say the sun was always there, even though we couldn't see it. I was only a child, of course, but I still liked to think about that when I was older."

Kili knew better than to speak to her as she kept her gaze on the moon.

"The stars were beautiful during that time, so it never really made the sad."

"Do they look like these stars?"

Emelia looked at the inky blackness, trying to find a constellation that she knew. She struggled to Orion's Belt hidden amongst all the unknown stars.

"No." She sounded horribly depressed.

He would probably regret it later, but he still reached out his hand to hers all the same. He grasped her little one, pulling it into his lap as she continued to star at the night sky. He felt her hand convulse around his own, squeezing it tighter as she attempted to find comfort in it.

"Are they better?"

"They were familiar. Not better. It is hard for a star to be ugly."

"Do you miss them?" Kili almost instantly regretted asking her when he felt her hand convulse and clench his even tighter. She was silent for much longer than he would have liked.

"It hurts how much I miss them."

"I am sorry."

She turned to look at him. His hair was unkempt in the night wind, making him look much younger. He had removed his outer layer of clothes, leaving just his shirt and pants on. They were sitting on his cloak, keeping their legs warm from the cold stone underneath.

"It is not so bad." She scooted herself closer to him, offering him a genuine smile. "I find I actually like you guys," She paused again, allowing a timid blush onto her pale face. "And I am hoping the feeling is returned. Just a little bit."

"You are not so bad." He pulled her even closer, placing her against his chest. "Even with your pension for breaking noses and causing general mayhem."

"It's charming."

"I suppose you could view it as such."

Emelia let out a small noise of protest, attempting to move back from him, only to have him hold her to his chest. He felt her hair fluttering over his skin on his neck as he watched her looking at the moon. She would occasionally itch at her stitches, but other than that, she choose to remain silent for the rest of the night, allowing herself to mull over the numerous thoughts and feelings he was positive she was thinking about and feeling.

* * *

"I do believe that is enough story for tonight Miss Wenny."

Wenny looked up from her bed, eyes blearily pleading with Gimli. The dwarf in question chuckled as the little elf yawned widely, attempting to cover it up with her small hand. She made an attempt to untangle herself form her numerous blankets, moving towards where Gimli was seated in his chair by her bed.

"You cannot be done." She whined, finally managing to get herself out of her bed. She moved across the stone floor, little feet padding lightly. "They are just starting to act as if they care about each other."

She reached her hands up, grabbing a hold of Gimli's arm in an attempt to get him to continue.

"You must go to sleep." Gimli let out a boom like laugh at the look on her face. "Your mother and father are already letting you stay up well past your bedtime enough as it is, lassie."

"But…"

"The story will still be there when you wake up."

"I want to know what happens."

"You will. Tomorrow." Gimli reached down, pulling the little elleth up into his tired arms. She protested weakly as he deposited her on the bed. "When there is food."

"You promise you will keep telling me." Wenny asked, digging herself into her covers.

"Oh my dear Wenny, there is so much story left to be told." Gimli said smiling as he moved towards the door. "We have barely even scratched the surface. Do not fear."


	23. The Mental Case of Miss Emelia Montgomery

Elf beds, Gimli decided, were a bit too soft for his tastes. He did not like how it felt as if he wasn't careful he would be sucked into the mattress without much hope of getting out with his dignity still intact. As a result he spent much of his time snoozing in places that more often than not ought not to be snoozed in. Legolas found it amusing. Gimli wasn't sure how it his actions were amusing, but he paid little attention to his old friend. Elves were odd. There was no point in trying to understand them.

Wenny found him approximately six hours after she had been sent to bed, leaned back in the same chair by the fire that he had been in previously, snoring loud enough to wake the entire kingdom of Mirkwood. Gimli had hoped that she would give him a little time, but he quickly realized that thought was rather foolish. She was more stubborn than dwarves and more ornery than most people he had encountered in his travels through Middle Earth.

"Gimli." Her voice was a forced whisper at first, like it was paining her to speak so quietly.

He pretended to still be sleeping. He wasn't sure if it was more for his own benefit, or hers. He knew she wouldn't leave until he woke up. He knew she would pester him, voice increasing in volume, until he finally responded to her in the way she wanted.

"Gimli." Her voice was louder the second time, and closer to his ear.

He shifted in his chair, joints aching from being in the same position all night. He felt her little hands grab onto his arm, shaking him roughly. Perhaps he had made a mistake in moving. "I know you can hear me, Gimli."

Gimli couldn't stop himself from laughing at her tone of voice. The words, so mature, sounded very odd in her high-pitched child's voice. He cracked open one eye, meeting her expectant gaze for the first time. She was still wearing her nightgown, over which she had been forced to wear a robe and jacket. Her hair had been brushed for her and swept back away from her face. She looked like she had been awake for quite some time, waiting, almost assuredly impatiently, for the time in which it was considered appropriate to wake up Gimli.

"Naneth says I have to feed you before I'm allowed to ask for more of the story." Wenny did not sound happy about the fact that she had to wait for Gimli to be 'fed'.

Gimli nodded at her, a large smile on his face. "Lead the way, Lassie."

Breakfast was already being served in the royal family's private dining room when Wenny dragged Gimli in. Legolas was already halfway through his typical meal of eggs and a bit of elvish bread, which Gimli still hadn't developed the taste for, when they arrived. He looked up at them, a knowingly bemused expression on his face. Alunim had a very similar expression on her face, save for the fact that hers was directed at something a female elf to her left was saying.

Gimli had never met the red-headed she-elf before. She was tall, almost as tall as Legolas and his father, with keen eyes and high cheek bones. He supposed she would be considered pretty, even by elf standards, but he knew he wasn't exactly the proper judge on that. To him, all elves seemed a bit hairless. Her hair was so long it trailed the ground when she was sitting. Wenny seemed to know her, judging by the way she dropped Gimli hand and bolted over to greet her.

"Liluwen." The female elf stood up, revealing her green hunting garb. She bent down to wrap Wenny in a hug, a warm smile playing on her face. "You are twice as big since I last saw you."

"And twice as annoying." Gimli grumbled, taking a seat next to Legolas without introducing himself to the she-elf. Legolas smiled at Gimli's comment, meeting his gaze. The she-elf looked over at the source of the noise, eyes narrowing ever so slightly for a moment before she inclined her head.

"I had heard Legolas had an old companion visiting. We have not had the pleasure. I am Tauriel."

Gimli looked her over once again as he served himself breakfast. He had heard the name Tauriel before. He had heard she was fierce amongst other less desirable things, but he did not expect her to look as she did. He wasn't sure why, but he expected to her be much larger and much more manly looking. All the same, he knew he was a guest and for whatever reason, Wenny and her parents were fond of Tauriel.

"Gimli son of Gloin, at your service."

"Alunim was just telling me you are in the process of telling Liluwen the story of the Company of Thorin Oakenshield." Tauriel threw a long sheet of red hair over her shoulder. "I would be most interested to hear a dwarf's perspective on the debacle, if you would allow me to sit in while you tell her."

Alunim, at that point, turned to give Gimli a very hard look. It was clear he was meant to say yes, as indicated by her narrowed eyes and the set line of her pale lips. Gimli glanced over at Legolas, only to be met with a matching expression, laced with only slightly less amusement than before. Legolas was amused by the entire situation, it seemed, regardless of how Gimli felt. As much as it pained him, Gimli knew he would have to agree.

"Of course. The more the merrier." That wasn't entirely true, but he imagined the elves around him already knew that without him needing to say as such.

"Wonderful." Tauriel smiled over at him, sharp eyes taking in Gimli. "Shall you continue now? Liluwen seems to have waited for what," She paused shooting a playing smirk down at Wenny. "Six grueling hours?"

"It was awful. I want to know what happens." Wenny said, seemingly oblivious to the sarcastic implications behind Tauriel's words. "Please."

"Where were we?" Gimli asked after a prolonged silence in which Wenny thought he was contemplating not telling her. In all honestly that was the farthest thing from his mind. He would never admit it, but it made him immeasurably happy to see someone, some little elf, taking such an interest in one of his people's stories. It wasn't very often that he got the chance to share them with someone.

"The stars. They were looking at the stars."

* * *

Emelia was not a sack of potatoes. Or at least, that's what she had to keep telling herself in order to not get annoyed with being passed from dwarf to dwarf as they made their way down from the perch the Eagles had left them on. They, meaning mostly Fili, had insisted she wasn't able to support her own weight to lower herself down the mountain. Apparently, being carried like a child was going to help with her recovery. When she had left Kili, blushing horribly at the fact that they had held hands for hours, she had wished she had tried to sleep more. She wasn't sure it was possible to be so exhausted without being borderline dead. She struggled to keep her eyes from lulling into the back of her head every time they paused long enough to take a small break. She did her best to stay awake, knowing full well that it would annoy the rest of the company if she dozed off and let them carry her all the way down.

She could only imagine what sort of things Dwalin would say.

Emelia, who was currently being passed from Dori to Gloin, reached a hand up to her chest, worrying at her stitches once again. They still hurt and were starting to itch worse than ever. Her nails, which she had long ago chewed to the nub, attempted to scratch her skin without aggravating Oin's needlework. It hardly did anything, and she imagined it was slightly psychosomatic, but she felt better every time she was able to discretely slip her hand into her tattered shirt and scratch her skin.

They were almost three-quarters of the way down when Thorin and Gandalf suddenly called them all to a halt. Emelia, who was in the odd limbo between dwarves, scrambled to the ground as quickly as possible, all too happy to have time to sit on the ground.

"Mr. Baggins." Thorin's deep baritone cut across the company, drawing all attention over to him and Gandalf where they were standing at the front. Bilbo, looking slightly alarmed at being addressed so suddenly, made his way over to them, hands in his formerly smart looking coat. Emelia still thought it was a shame about his jacket. It had been so nice to look when put in comparison to what the dwarves wore. "You will scout. Gandalf has assured me that you would be better suited for this than a dwarf. See where the orc pack is and report back. Do not be seen."

Bilbo nodded, not seeming nervous. Emelia was surprised. She would have expected him to be slightly green at the thought of going off on his own, knowing full well what was hunting them. She would have been, if it had been her. The news that they were still being followed, even after everything that had happened not two nights ago, did not sit well with her. They just got done running from orcs. Was it too much to ask that they be given just a little bit off? Just a moment?

"Stay on guard." Thorin informed all of them once Bilbo was gone. "The danger has not yet passed."

Emelia, for her part, knew that she would be able to be alert from the ground. And she did just that, plopping down against the edge of the cold stone jutting out from the side of the mountain, leaning back against it heavily. Her hand ran over her cut. She knew it was going to become a nervous habit, but she couldn't stop her fingers from ghosting over the puckered edges of her skin. It did not seem like it had only been two days since the Goblin King cut her. It seemed like it had been months. She felt old, sitting on the ground. She didn't feel like she was eighteen. Normal eighteen year olds didn't have to deal with the sorts of things she was dealing with. Normal eighteen year olds wouldn't be afraid of being eaten alive.

"Stop touching it." Emelia looked up, feeling very dirty being caught with her hand inside her shirt in front of a bunch of men. Fili eyed her hand, smiling enough for his dimples to show, before he took a seat next to her. "I could take a look at it for you, in private of course." He waggled his eyebrows at her, seeming to try and force her to smile.

"Tempting." Emelia closed her eyes, not bothering to take her hand out of her shirt. "But no, thank you."

Fili let out a low whistle. "Right. We wouldn't want to upset Kili."

"Exactly." Emelia said it before she had even thought about it. It took her approximately half a moment to realize what she had just said. She immediately sat up, eyes wide. Fili laughed, looking very proud of himself. "No."

"You're blushing."

"I'm not." Emelia knew she was.

"You are. You're redder than your hair."

"This isn't funny. You're not being funny, Fee." Emelia said, crossing her arms over her chest, only to realize her mistake and cry out loud in pain. The dwarves around her looked over at her in alarm, some raising weapons out of instinct. Fili waved them off with a flippant hand, smiling slyly at her out of the corner of his eye. Kili, who had been speaking with Ori, saw them and moved to sit next to them, a look of curiosity on his face.

"Why have you gone all red?" Kili asked, taking a seat in front of the two of them.

"Anger." Emelia said, delivering a resounding kick to Fili to indicate that it would probably be best if he kept his mouth shut. Emelia avoided looking directly at Kili, knowing full well that she would blush even more. She wasn't exactly sure why she was blushing, but she filled that away as something to revisit on another day very far into the future when she wasn't so tired and didn't smell like death. "Fee just told me a terrible joke."

"That doesn't seem like something to be angry about." Kili said, seeming confused. Emelia blinked, fully thankful for the first time that Kili wasn't overly observant when it came to her sarcasm. "I mean, his jokes are bad, but they aren't that bad."

"It's not, you're right, Kee."

She reached her hand up to her chest once again, feeling suddenly very awkward sitting next to the two of them. Kili followed the line of her hand with dark eyes, narrowing them slightly. "Is it hurting?"

"Hmm?"

"Your chest?" He gestured with his hand, scooting closer to her in the process. "I don't think Oin has anything to make it hurt less."

"No. I'm fine."

"Are you lying to me?" Kili asked, fixing her with a very disbelieving look. "I think she's lying, Fili." Fili looked up from where he had been inspecting once of his knives, fingers halfway through digging out some congealed blood and dirt. Emelia eyed it with distaste, turning her gaze on the rest of the company. They were all sitting by that point, talking very quietly amongst themselves. They kept glancing over at her, she noticed, which seemed rather odd.

"She is undoubtedly lying." Fili said, returning his gaze back to his knife.

"Oin doesn't have anything to relieve my pain, so why complain?" Emelia said, catching Ori staring at her. She gave him a look, to which he responded by turning away quickly, a blush spreading all over his face.

"You complain about everything else." Kili said simply, bracing himself for the punch that he was sure was going to be aimed his way. She did not respond to him. She kept watching the dwarves noticing that more and more of them were beginning to shoot her looks when they thought she wasn't looking. Bofur was especially obvious considering he didn't bother to look away. He smiled widely at her, waving a cheery hand, before he continued to watch her.

"Why is Bofur looking at me like that?" Emelia asked, completely ignoring Kili's comment about how much she complained. She did complain more than everyone else. She thought she had earned it, considering the circumstances of her inclusion in the company. There would be no point in her trying to deny it when she knew it was about the most honest thing Kili had ever said to her, even if he himself didn't realize it. "In fact, why is everyone looking at me like that?"

Kili looked up at Bofur. His eyes went wide for a moment as he shook his head at the other dwarf. Bofur immediately looked away, as did many of the other dwarves. Emelia felt her face scrunch up in confusion. "What's going on?"

"Nothing." Fili said quickly, slipping his knife back into his shirt. He looked up at Emelia. She was glaring at him, not believing him for a second. "Honestly, Emelia I wouldn't lie to you."

"Yes you would."

"Well, I wouldn't." Kili said, reaching out to touch her arm. There was something in his voice that made Emelia believe him. "You'll ruin the surprise for yourself if you keep asking too many questions."

"There's a surprise?" Emelia sat up fully, suddenly feeling very alert and awake. She scooted closer to both of them. "Am I getting a car?"

Kili looked over a Fili, confusion etched all over his face. Emelia realized her mistake almost instantly. She looked away, feeling a pain in her chest that wasn't related to her cut. They didn't know what cars were. They didn't know what anything like that was. The thought that they didn't know anything about her hit her so suddenly she felt tears well up in her eyes did not like that thinking of something as simple as a car caused her so many sad emotions. It was silly. She was silly. She shouldn't burst into tears after every little thought of home, as hard as she knew that was. Her cheeks burned with embarrassment at her sudden bout of over emoting. She hurriedly reached her hands up to her face, scrubbing away the few tears quickly. She was being stupid, she told herself. It was her own fault for bringing it up, not theirs. She should have known better than to think about that sort of stuff. It just upset her more in the long run.

"What's a car?" Kili asked, breaking Emelia out of her thoughts. "Whatever it is, it obviously upsets you. I don't think I would want to get you something that intentionally upsets you."

"In fact, we could eliminate this 'car' thing, if it truly upsets you this much." Fili chimed in, a very serious look on his face.

And just like that, Emelia was laughing. The dwarves would probably think she was mental. She did look slightly mad, having just started crying not two minutes before. She reached out her arms, pulling a very confused looking Fili into a hug. She laughed into his shoulder, squeezing him tightly despite the pain in her chest. He seemed unsure of how to return her gesture for second, before he finally wrapped his arms around her, pulling her even closer. She felt him laughing with her after a moment. It sent vibrations through her chest, making her smile into the fabric of his cloak. She sat back from Fili, turning her attention onto Kili. He did not seem to expect her to hug him. It made her laugh even more at the sight of his surprised face when she wrapped her arms around his neck.

"You don't have to murder a car." Emelia said.

"You're being weird, Emmy." Kili said into her hair. "At least, weirder than normal."

"What did you see? What is the matter?"

Emelia immediately moved away from Kili at the sound of the urgency in Thorin's voice. All around her the dwarves were standing up, pulling their weapons closer to their bodies as they did. Bilbo stood in the middle of the small circle that was being formed, slightly out of breath. He placed his small hands on his hips, regaining his composure. Emelia knew that look. She had sported it about a thousand times in the past couple of months. He had seen something. That was enough to make a new wave of panic wash over her.

"Did they see you? They saw you didn't they?" Thorin sounded more concerned than she had heard him during their entire journey. She did not like it. She was so used to him sounding unemotional and distant this new tone of voice alarmed her greatly.

"What? No, they didn't see me." All of the dwarves let out noises of appreciation of that little fact. "They are moving away from this area." Bilbo said, causing all of the dwarves to relax even more.

"What did I tell you all?" Gandalf sounded a bit too smug in Emelia's opinion. "Mr. Baggins is remarkably light on his feet and stealthy, when he needs to be. You all had nothing to worry about."

"Listen." Bilbo struggled to get out the rest of what he was trying to tell the company. "Would you all just be quiet for a moment? There is something else."

Bilbo finally had to shout before the dwarves quieted themselves enough to hear what he was trying to say. They all looked over at him, some sporting surprised expressions in response to the exasperated look on the Hobbits face. Emelia shifted on her feet, hand sliding up to her chest involuntarily. She rubbed at it until she felt a hand reach over and pull her hand away from her chest. She followed the arm attached to the hand, only to be met the sight of Kili shaking his head at her.

Apparently, she had been bothering the wound on her chest more than she realized.

He leaned down next to her ear, moving away a bit of her hair. "Emmy, you're going to make it infected if you keep touching it."

"What did you see?" Gandalf moved to stand over Bilbo, peering down at him.

"Well, I don't really know. It was huge and furry and…"

"Was it a bear?"

Bilbo seemed confused for a moment. "How did you know?"

"I thought as much. We must move quickly. There is a house, not too far from here, that we will be able to find lodging at. Gather what little things you have. We will need to move with all haste if we are to make it there before nightfall." With that he turned and began to sprint off down the remainder of the slope, calling for the dwarves to follow along behind him.

Emelia wasn't sure why, but she found she was more upset about the prospect of more running than she was about the giant bear-like thing. She despised running and it seemed that that was all the dwarves liked to do as of late. They had only been stopped for a moment. It had been so nice being able to relax and now it was taunting her as she took off with the rest of the dwarves, hand scrubbing at the edge of her cut the entire time.

That and getting into more trouble than they could handle. They were experts at that.


	24. The Mouse in the House

When Emelia was a child she imagined what it might have been like to have been born and raised somewhere besides Alaska. She had pictured living in the plains of Oklahoma, staring out at the seas of endless grass for hours. She wondered what life might have been like in Montreal, or New York, or Beijing. More often than not, she had wished she could live in someplace that wasn't so cold. She had wished for it every night. Northern Alaska was beautiful, but she had always felt so alone in Kessog. It was so far away from everything she wanted to do and wanted to be.

Perhaps she shouldn't have wished so hard. Maybe it was the musings of her eight year old self that doomed her.

She decided right then and there that she would have lived in an ice cave by herself if it meant she wouldn't have to run away from another warg in her life. Running had never been her strong suit. It made her miserable. She would rather scrape her skin off with a cheese grater than voluntarily run for any length of time. She supposed running was better than being eaten by a pack of wargs, however. She imagined anything was better than being eaten by a pack of wargs.

The dwarves were faring far better than she was. The younger ones, mainly Fili and Kili, seemed to hardly notice that they had been running for a half a day straight. They shot her bright smiles whenever they would catch her eye, daring to wink at her when they saw the less than impressed look on her sweating face. If they hadn't been running for their lives, she would have punched them square in their overly chipper faces.

Emelia had to keep reminding herself that breathing was the most important thing. She found, however, it was becoming harder and harder to breathe when with every deep breath she thought her stitches might come loose. At first she thought the odd sickness she was feeling was stemming from the fear she was certain would be a constant for the rest of her life. She found that those feelings were only part of the cause the longer they ran. The rest was her cut. The majority of it was her cut, if she was being perfectly honest. She hated the Goblin King more and more with each hurried stride she took. His ugly face swam in front of her with each twinge of her cut.

She thought, more times than she cared to admit, about just lying down and giving up the entire charade of running away. It wasn't as if they could avoid the creatures forever. She thought about it only long enough to remember that she had people that cared about her. Her mother would not have been very proud of her if she had done that.

The nicest thing about how quickly they were moving was how quickly the scenery changed. At first it was mountains, then it was rolling foothills, and finally it was green flatlands. She liked those the best. Perhaps she was delirious from exhaustion, but she almost stopped to pick some of the blue and purple flowers that lined their path. She paused once, only to be grabbed roughly by her hand by Fili and forced to continue. He shot her a very concerned look when he saw that it wasn't a fleeting fancy.

She wanted nothing more than to stop running and sleep.

"Faster!"

Emelia didn't need to be told twice, although she wasn't certain if she would be able to. The pain in her chest was becoming almost unbearable. She was sweating more than ever and her vision was becoming fuzzy. Fili gripped her hand harder, practically dragging her through the field. His blonde hair blurred in front of her, blending in with the rest of the scenery around her.

"Emmy?" Fili chanced a glance over his shoulder at her. "Are you…" He was cut off by a ground vibrating roar.

"Keep up!"

Emelia felt like she wasn't even using her own legs when she was physically thrown through a door by Fili. He supported her with a shaking arm, his heavy breath fanning over her sweat drenched face. There was a crash followed by an even louder roar before there was an uncomfortable quiet that fell over all of them.

"What was that?" Ori said after a palpable silence.

"That, mister Ori, was our host." Gandalf said with a small amount of hidden amusement in his voice. "His name is Beorn and he is a skin walker. He does not take kindly to strangers, especially those of the dwarf variety, so I would suggest not bothering his home. You are guests and would do well to remember that. Get some rest."

The dwarves muttered under their breath before they all moved towards the soft hay.

"Have we stopped running?" Emelia managed to ask after she was finally able to catch her breath.

"What?" Fili looked over at her. "Of course we've stopped running."

"Good." She looked over at him, only to be met with the sight of three Fili's staring at her with the same confused expression. She leaned back from him, eyes struggling to focus on the middle head, which she imagined was the one she should address. "When did you grow two extra heads?"

"Emmy?"

"I feel pale. Do I look pale?" Emelia stumbled, collapsing to the floor. They had stopped running, which was nice, but now all she could focus on was the unbearable pain in her chest and the terrible nausea that filled her up. Her legs screamed in protest as she pulled them up underneath her. She looked up at him, waiting for him to respond. "Stop moving."

"I'm not moving." He bent down next to her, hands reaching towards her forehead. "You're burning up." She felt his hands pressing against her neck, supporting her slightly. "Oin, Emmy needs you." Fili voice rose up an octave, making Emelia wince at the volume.

"Stop yelling." Emelia said, reaching her hand up to her chest. It stung when she touched it and her hands were sweating so much they slipped over her equally sweaty chest.

"Sorry, Emmy." Fili placated her, supporting her weight while he waited for Oin to make his way over to them. "How is your cut?"

"My sweat is making it itch."

"Charming."

"What is it? Is it her cut?" Oin said from behind Fili. He stepped around the blonde, bending down in front of Emelia. He made to move her shirt back before he noticed that Fili was still peering over his shoulder. He forced Fili to move back from Emelia, effectively blocking her view from the rest of the company, before he went back to his work. He pealed back her shirt, muttering to himself in Khuzdul. He shifted even more to make sure that no one could see around him before he set to work removing the bandages that covered up the vast majority of her chest. She glanced up at him with dulled eyes, muttering something about her decency before she allowed him to continue to examine her.

Her skin was pale, but not alarmingly so, and spotted with redness from where the bandage had rubbed against it. The cut where he had sewn her up was inflamed but showed no signs of the stitches tearing or an infection setting in. He let out a sigh of relief at seeing that she wasn't in worse shape than she was before. He had seen enough injuries to know that someone her size could not handle an infection on top of everything else. He applied the tiniest bit of ointment, being careful not to press on the cut more than was necessary. He wiped his hands on his clothes as he rooted around for one of the spare bandages that he kept tucked away in his cloak, wrapping it around her chest carefully and quickly. She lifted herself up only enough to make it easier for him before returning back to her slumped position. He pat her on the shoulder, offering a small smile that she only half noticed, before he moved back to allow Fili to tend to her.

"She is fine, Laddie." Oin clapped the blonde on the shoulder soundly, already preparing himself for the sleep that was waiting for him. "She just needs a good night's sleep. She'll be good as new tomorrow."

Fili followed Oin's hand to where he was gesturing to Emelia, only to see that she was already sleeping sounding on the straw covered ground. Fili laughed to himself, stepping around Oin to bend over her. She mumbled slightly when he lifted her up into his arms, slumping against him.

"Well that didn't take long." He mused to himself, moving towards one of the fluffier piles of straw to lay her on to sleep off the day's events in peace.

* * *

Emelia woke up to a face full of straw and a mouse nuzzling her ear. As far as wakings up went, it could have been worse. It was actually rather pleasant. Normally, she wouldn't have been fond of rodents crawling on her face, but given the circumstances of the last couple of days, she found she didn't mind so much. A mouse seemed less disgusting now that she had seen a goblin. The straw smelled clean, if that was possible, and the mouse wasn't trying to eat her face so it was a nice change of pace. Emelia smiled to herself, reaching her hand up to stroke the little mouse with her index finger. It let out a small squeak before scurrying away, leaving Emelia watching it with interest.

"Peaceful, aren't they?"

Emelia jumped into a sitting position at the sound of the unfamiliar deep voice above her. The owner of the voice could only be a giant. There was no other explanation that would do the man justice. Emelia had to crane her neck to take him in his entirety. She was certain his legs were longer than her entire body combined and about twice as thick. She started to move back from him, only pausing when she saw him smile at her.

"I did not mean to frighten you, little human." He reached down a large hand.

"You're huge." Emelia said before she realized how rude that was. "Oh, erm, not in the fat way. The arms are size of tree trunks kind of way. Like, Andre the Giant has nothing on you. I don't know if giant is a politically correct term. I'm sorry." Emelia paused, taking note of the confused look on the man's face. "Don't hurt me, I'll stop talking now."

"They said you were an odd one." The man said, once again offering her a hand. Emelia scrunched her face up, deciding whether or not to take the unknown man's hand. "My name is Beorn and this is my house."

She was happy to see that his extracurricular activity of being a bear didn't interfere with his pleasantness as a human. She grabbed a hold of his large hand, allowing him to pull her into a standing position. "Emelia Kinsington Montgomery, it is a pleasure to me you when you are not trying to eat us."

Beorn let out a booming laugh that half frightened her and half made her want to laugh with him.

"Good morning, Miss Emelia." Dori smiled at her from where he was sitting at a large table, drinking from a cup that was two-times too big for him. He was eyeing Beorn wearily, almost as if he didn't fully trust him."Why don't you come join me for a moment and have a bit of breakfast?

"Morning Dori." She glanced at Beorn only to see that he was already on his way out of the double duty barn and dining room, pulling a thick rope and bucket with him as he went. She wasn't sure how someone so huge managed to make so little sound, but she made a mental note to ask him at a later date. She turned her attention back to Dori, moving to take a seat across from him at the large table. She had to jump to take a seat, which made her chest twinge, but she felt a small sense of accomplishment when she was able to pull herself onto the bench without help.

"Where was he going?"

"To meet Gandalf, I would imagine. He left early this morning, before any of us were awake."

"How long have I been asleep?" Emelia asked, reaching for a large chunk of bread.

"A little more than a day." Dori said simply, reaching towards the fire behind him. He pulled a teapot away from the flames, pouring it into his large mug. Emelia immediately knew he was brewing tea by the smells that came wafting over towards her.

"Is sleeping that long healthy?" Emelia asked with a mouthful of bread. "Why didn't anyone wake me? What if I had slipped into a coma?"

"Oin thought you needed the rest, considering." Dori took a gingerly sip of his tea. "Do you feel better?"

Emelia looked down at herself, running a quick diagnostic check. "I think so. Do I look better?"

"Leagues. Your coloring is returning. Tea?" He offered her a mug, which while smaller than the others was still too large for Emelia. She thought for a moment before she took it from him, nodding her head. The hot water warmed her hands instantly. "It is my own personal blends of herbs. A little bit of home always seems to make me feel better, even in the worst of times."

Emelia took a small simmering sip, allowing Dori's words to sink in. She was instantly reminded of her boots. They were the only thing she had of home. She rubbed her feet together, almost to remind herself that they were still on her feet. She looked under the table, taking note of the fact that they were covered in so much blood, dirt, and filth they were almost unrecognizable. She looked at the one last time before she returned her attention to Dori.

"Your hair looks nice. Did you fix it?" Emelia asked, hoping to change the subject. She was feeling oddly good after her day long sleep. She knew that if she started talking about home all good feelings she had would evaporate instantly. She stuffed more bread into her mouth, deciding last minute to be daring add a chunk of cheese with it.

Dori reached his hand up to his hair, a large smile on his face. "Thank you for noticing Miss Emelia. We were all able to clean up a bit."

"So I am the only one who smells like a butt?"

Dori blushed at her question, looking down at his tea. "I would not say you smell like, well, that."

"Thank you, Dori. Where is everybody?" Emelia asked, swallowing another chunk of bread. She washed it down with a large gulp of tea.

"Outside. I believe they were planning on doing a bit of training today after lunch. I came in for a bit of a break from the sunshine. They told me to send you out once you woke up."

Emelia stood up, tearing off one last piece of bread for the road, before she moved towards the massive door. "Thank you, Dori. Your tea was wonderful." Dori inclined his head, smiling at her good-naturedly before he turned his attention back to the fire and the tea in his hands.

The dwarves, true to form, were practicing with their weapons on the large grassy lawn that surrounded Beorn's house. Emelia had not had the chance to look at his property when she had been in her exhaustion induced haze. Now that she was lucid, she was very happy they had decided to stay there. It was so beautiful it made Emelia stop in her tracks. She had seen plenty of beautiful sights while she was with the dwarves, but none of them seemed to relax her like the lazy peace of Beorn's home did. She wasn't sure how long they were planning on staying, but she decided she would be appreciative for any length of time she got to spend there.

"Emmy! You're awake." Emelia's musings were interrupted by the dwarves. They were all looking over at her, similar expressions of surprise on their faces.

"Hello." She waved her hands at them, making her way across the field towards them. "Disturbing the peace already?"

"That's your job, Em." Kili said, winking at her when he thought no one else was looking. "Get enough beauty sleep?"

"More than you did, obviously."

The dwarves around her hooted with laughter. She patted Kili on the shoulder as she turned her attention on the rest of the. Just like Dori, they all looked much cleaner and put together than she had seen them look in a long time. Their braids were freshly done and their faces were free of dirt for the first time ever. Even their clothes were new looking. They made her feel shabbier and dirtier by comparison. She was used to being the clean one.

"Why do you all have your weapons?"

The dwarves looked down at their hands. Some of them seemed happier with their weapons. It made very little sense to her, when she really thought about it. She had never known weapons to bring about happiness, but dwarves were admittedly beyond her area of expertise so she didn't think much of it.

"Just a bit of lighthearted competition." Ori said, holding up his slingshot with pride. "Want to join us?"

She opened her mouth to respond only to be cut off by Fili. "I don't think that's a good idea."

Emelia looked over at him, folding her arms over her chest. "And why not?"

Fili seemed to shrink slightly at the intensity of her gaze. He took a step back from her to stand next to a very amused looking Nori and Gloin. Fili seemed to realize that he had made a mistake as soon as he said it. Emelia stared him down, waiting for him to backtrack.

"Well, you're still technically injured. I wouldn't want, we wouldn't want, to see you get worse."

"You don't have to lie. It is okay to be nervous about me beating you." Emelia said, a large smile on her face when she saw the stunned look on Fili's face. Of all the ways she could have responded to him, she imagined he didn't expect that one. In truth, she wasn't sure she was feeling up to competing against a bunch of over-competitive dwarves. She was, however, feeling up to doing something that would make her laugh. She was feeling up to doing something that was steeped in stress, or panic, or fear.

"While I do not deny you would be fierce competition…"

"An understatement." Emelia added in with a nudge of her elbow.

"You shouldn't risk it." Kili finished for his brother, stepping back slightly just in case she decided to respond with anger.

In truth, they had a point. For the first time in a very long time all of them, with the exception of Ori, were being very logical in regards to her. Some of the older dwarves were looking at her like they thought she should be sitting down, rather than standing arguing with them about whether or not she was fit for anything. The younger ones seemed slightly disappointed, but still nodded their heads in agreement with Fili and Kili.

Emelia felt disappointment seeping through her. Mostly she was disappointed with the Goblin King for hurting her bad enough that she couldn't really take care of herself, but she found she was slightly more annoyed with herself. The cleverness that she normally prided herself on had been seriously lacking in that situation. And currently, but she considered that to be worse. She had been petrified then. She could hardly think of an excuse for her lack of cleverness now.

"What if we did something different? Something I could do?" She asked after a long moment of silence. She wasn't quite sure where she was going with her line of thought beyond the desire to do something fun with the dwarves.

"What did you have in mind, Lassie?" Bofur asked, leaning forward with a look of curiosity on his face.

She hadn't planned on them jumping on her suggestion that quickly, leaving her scrambling for an answer. "Erm, well, I guess we could play a game that all the," She paused desperately thinking of a way to spin what she was thinking of in a way that the dwarves would be interested in. It was honestly the only thing that popped into her mind. "All the warriors play it as a way to get ready for battle."

"What is it?" Ori asked, not bothering to hide his interest.

"Football. It's called football."

* * *

"This isn't really how this game is supposed to be played, is it?"

Dwarves did not really understand football, even though Emelia had spent the better part of the afternoon explaining it to them. She had had to be creative about making a suitable ball, and end zones, and just about everything else involved, but she had thought they would be able to make do. They did, for a while, but it had all turned south when they had learned about the tackling. She had not anticipated, which was an oversight on her part, how much they were going to enjoy the tackling part and only that.

Emelia had decided to politely excuse herself after Nori accidentally ran into her, throwing her to the ground and onto her cut a bit harder than she would have liked.

She looked over at Balin, ignoring the sounds of Dwalin holding Nori down with a headlock. Balin, Oin, and Dori, who had joined them shortly after Emelia suggested the game, were sitting on one of the benches against Beorn's house. They were watching the scene in front of them with amused looks on their faces.

"No, not really." Emelia admitted, glancing back to in time to see Fili and Kili go racing past them, grappling with each other. "But they seem to be enjoying themselves, so I guess it doesn't really matter."

"It was nice of you, to suggest it I mean, even if they don't really understand the point of the game." Balin smiled kindly at her, patting her gently on the shoulder.

"When I was a kid my father used to park me and my mom in front of the," She paused, thinking of how to adjust her story for someone who didn't know much of anything about where she came from. "In front of the local game bundled up in blankets. We, my mom, dad, and I that is, would watch it every Saturday and Sunday. It was something that made me very happy and while it was not my original intention, it makes me happy to see that other people can enjoy it too."

"You didn't play?" Dori asked, wincing when he saw Ori get grabbed and thrown to the ground by Bofur. "Watch out!" He shouted to the dwarves still participating. "Sorry."

"No. I'm too small to play." She gestured to her small stature, smiling at the thought of her playing football on the same field as some of the college or professional athletes. She imagined one good tackle from one of them and she wouldn't be able to walk straight for a month. "Plus, it's more of a guy sport where I come from."

"You cheated!" Emelia and the older dwarves looked around at the sound of the loud shout. "You always cheat!"

"I did not." Bofur and Gloin were currently involved in a shouting match, pointing back and forth. "You're seeing things."

"Perhaps we should intervene." Balin suggested kindly, standing up from his spot. "Before things get too out of hand."

Balin moved towards the dwarves, shouting things in that odd language that the dwarves spoke, gesturing with his arms in an attempt to get them to stop the game conflict from escalating into an actual conflict that ended up worse for them all. Emelia moved to follow them, only to be grabbed around the middle from behind. The dwarf was laughing and covered in sweat, which she normally didn't considered to be a good combination. "Emmy, you should have told us about this game ages ago. It's brilliant."

Kili finally placed her on the ground, reaching his hand up to wipe some of the dark hair that had stuck to his sweaty forehead out of his face. There was grass sticking to his clothes and skin. As she looked up at him she noticed, for perhaps the first time, how long and slender his nose was compared to the other dwarves in the company. It was almost artistic, now that she was really examining it. She noticed that along with the rest of the grass on his face, that there was a piece sticking to the side of it. She reached up a hand to remove before she even thought about it, pulling it off while his eyes watched her confused interest.

"What are you doing?" He asked, confusing twisting into a knowing smirk. "If you wanted to touch me, we could just go someplace more private."

Emelia immediately stepped back, fully embarrassed that she had been so distracted by his nose. "You're just like Fee."

"Not just like him. I'm more charming aren't I?"

He took a step closer towards her, reaching out a hand to her shoulder. "You smell." She pointed out, taking a step back from him that he mimicked.

"Not as bad as you." He said, laughing when she swiped at him. He stepped back from her hand, throwing his hands up in mock defense. "I'm only joking."

"It amazes me that you aren't married. Truly." Emelia rolled her eyes.

"Perhaps dwarven women can't handle my overabundance of charm."

"Perhaps dwarven women are smarter than you give them credit for."

"Your words hurt, Emmy."

"I'm glad you liked football by the way, even if you didn't really end up playing it properly." She looked down at her feet, changing the subject as she scrubbed her boots into the grass. "You do know you were supposed to keep score?"

"We did." Kili pointed out. "I scored four points."

"That's not technically possible."

"Anything is possible with a dwarf." Kili said, glancing around him. "Before I forget, me and Fili wanted to show you something after dinner."

"Is it a place for me take a bath?"

"I was kidding when I said you smelled bad." Kili said, face instantly becoming fearful that he had truly upset her.

"You weren't." Emelia was starting to offend herself with her own body odor. She subconsciously rubbed her arms, knowing full well that he wasn't lying to her when he said she smelled worse than he did. "I never thought I would miss deodorant."

"I don't know what that is." Kili said, smiling despite his confusion.

"I'll tell you if you promise to find me some soap to bathe with and some clean clothes to sleep in."

"I think I might be able to handle that." Kili wrapped an arm around her, despite her assertions of how bad she smelled.

"You're the best, Kee."

"I know."


	25. Things That Should Not Be Forgotten

Dinner was an abnormally uncomfortable affair. Emelia sat awkwardly between Fili and Kili, listening intently to the sporadic conversations bouncing around the table with only half of her attention. She munched on her salad, glancing at the two dwarves beside her occasionally, doing her best not to stare too much at how much food Bombur was eating, or how steely the looks were that Dwalin was giving Beorn, or how much she had embarrassed herself earlier in regards to Kili.

The one nice thing about the evening meal was that Emelia felt clean, after having been escorted the nearest water source by a very helpful Balin, for the first time in weeks. The water had been brown by the time she was finally able to scrub all of the grime off her body. Her hair was curling like it was supposed to, in thick ringlets all around her neck, back, and face, bouncing with each step she took. The only thing she smelled when she held her hand up to her face or pulled her hair to her nose was soap and that made her more excited than it probably should have.

Kili had made good on his promise by giving her a bar of soap. It was a lump of something she wouldn't have normally considered soap, but the dirt on her body was bothering her so much she would have scrubbed herself clean with steel wool. In return, Kili insisted she explain deodorant to him. Emelia had never thought it would be so hard to explain something so simple, but she had been wrong so many times recently, it didn't really surprise her that she wasn't very good at it.

She had been rambling for about ten minutes about white powder that made you smell good when Kili picked up her arm and smelled her skin.

Emelia had never been more mortified in her entire life.

Her embarrassment had been compounded by the fact that when she had snatched her arm back from him he had followed it up by saying that she smelled like fresh air, underneath all the dirt and blood and sweat, that is.

Emelia pushed a large piece of lettuce around with her finger, looking down at the table as if it was the most interesting thing she had ever seen. Kili shifted next to her, elbowing her while simultaneously stuffing a large bite of cheese into his mouth. He missed, causing pieces to crumble and attach to his stubble. He didn't realize, or didn't really care, as he smiled widely at her. Emelia contemplated continuing with her usual response of ignoring him until her embarrassment subsided before she realized that would do her very little good. She would have to ignore him forever if she did that.

No matter what happened, or how they talked to each other, or how they looked at each other, Kili son of Mirwi was always going to embarrass her in every way he could think of.

The meal had started out pleasantly enough until Beorn, Gandalf, and Thorin came back from their outing. They said very little to the rest of them about where they had been as they sat down at the table set by Beorn's animal companions. Emelia had eyed them, both the animals and the late arrivals, with wariness as usual. The silence was comfortable until Dwalin asked where the meat was rather tactlessly. Apparently, Beorn did not like to eat the animals that he talked to on a daily basis.

Emelia could relate to that notion. When she was six, she had made the rather unfortunate mistake of naming one of the salmon they caught. She had called it Sammy the Salmon, fully expecting her parents to let her keep the fish in the fish tank that they kept in their heated garage. She had been appalled to learn that Sammy the Salmon was not for keeps. In fact, he was set to be packed in ice for one of the restaurants. Emelia had been traumatized, to say the least, when she had come home from school and there had been no Sammy the Salmon there to greet her.

When the small talk ran dry, the dwarves turned their attention to their plates, beards thrown over their shoulders to avoid getting the rich puddings and sauces in their now perfectly clean and freshly braided hair.

Beorn seemed to be thinking thoughtfully in his large ornately made chair by the hearth, massive fingers crossed underneath his chin. He eyed Thorin the most, a look of great suspicion on his borderline animalistic features. Gandalf did not seem to notice the tension, or his mind was focused on other things, as he sat in an equally large chair opposite of Beorn.

The meal continued on in silence until all of the dwarves, Emelia, and Bilbo had had their fill of food. Emelia, for her part, was entirely excited to be able to leave the table. When the food was being cleared away, once again by the animals that Emelia had a hard time making eye contact with, she took that as a cue to take her leave of the uncomfortable meal altogether.

She made eyed the pile of hay she had used as a bed, feeling fully exhausted after everything that had happened that day. She had laughed more than she thought she was capable of when she had watched the dwarves try to play football. In addition to that, she was certain her brain and body were still tired after she had run and consequently slept for a day and a half. Straw had never looked so inviting in her entire life. She wanted nothing more than to bury her face in the poky straws of hay and sleep until she was no longer at risk for falling asleep standing up.

"Not so fast, Emmy."

Emelia saw all the tantalizing thoughts she had about sleep melting in front of her, only to be replaced by a very sneaky looking Fili and Kili.

"We had a deal." Kili said, nodding with his head towards the door. "Remember?"

"Right now?" Emelia asked, glancing back over at her spot, feeling slightly mournful. "Like, right now, right now?"

"As opposed to later, right now?" Fili asked, a slight amount of good-natured mocking lacing his words. "The sooner you come with us, the sooner you can come back and cuddle with all the hay and the mice and Ki…"Fili was interrupted by a swift punch in his side from Kili which effectively cut him off entirely.

The three of them stood in silence for a moment, Kili and Emelia doing their best to ignore the snarky comment from Fili. Emelia contemplated, again, about going back to her hay to avoid the entire evening of uncomfortable comments from Fili altogether. Fili grabbed Emelia's hand before she could move back to her warm pile of hay, seeming to sense what she was planning. He shot an odd look at Kili, before he led her towards the massive door. Along the way Kili nodded at Ori, who, fumbling as usual, grabbed a hold of one of his notebooks. He followed them towards the door, smiling brightly at Emelia despite her confusion at his inclusion in the outing.

Kili had just placed his hand on the door handle to leave when Gloin's voice stopped them.

"And just where are you four going at this time?"

Fili, Kili, and Ori looked as if they didn't plan on being caught. Emelia thought that was a bit strange considering they were literally walking out in plain view of everyone in the entire company. Emelia rolled her eyes at the matching looks of panic on their faces.

"I have to go," Emelia paused, fully hating Fili, Kili, and apparently Ori, in her mind for making her come up with a reason that they were leaving with little to no help from them. "Pee."

Gloin did not expect her to answer in such a frank manner. He flushed under his beard, looking over at Oin, who was sitting next to him, awkwardly. Oin, who had been without his hearing trumpet for the better part of two days, did not seem to have heard what Emelia over-shared with the dwarves in the nearest vicinity. He went on smiling, artfully blowing smoke circles from his pipe in the slightly oblivious manner that Emelia couldn't help but feel jealous of.

"I have to pee. A lot. Like a river. I think my bladder is about to expl…" Emelia would have continued rambling if it hadn't been for Kili squeezing her shoulder as an indication to stop. "Right. I'll stop over-sharing now."

"We thought Miss Emelia shouldn't be alone." Fili supplied, voice laced in a way that Emelia knew was meant to sound logical and diplomatic.

"And three of you are needed to escort her to do her business?" Gloin did not sound convinced.

"I'm a nervous pee-er." Emelia was certain none of the dwarves would be able to look at her with a straight face after this. Kili let out a snort of laughter, which he covered up by throwing his hand up to his mouth. He did not do a very good job, resulting in even more loud burst of laughter coming from him. Fili was forced to reach behind Emelia to slap him roughly on the back of the head. Emelia kept her gaze on Gloin, doing her best to ignore the looks and laughter the two brothers were giving each other behind her back.

"Right." Gloin looked at Oin once again, eyebrows knitted together. "If I were you, I would return before too late. It is not safe."

"Right, well I'm super-efficient when it comes to my bladder, so we won't be gone too long."

Gloin's mouth scrunched up. "You are over-sharing again, Miss Emelia."

"Sorry. We'll be going now."

Emelia allowed Fili to pull her out of Beorn's house, followed closely by a still laughing Kili and a very confused looking Ori. Emelia hoped that whatever it was that they were planning on showing her was worth her thoroughly embarrassing herself in front of Gloin, who she quite liked, and Oin, who thankfully wasn't able to hear the majority of her mortifying moment. In truth, Emelia really did have to pee. It was a convenience that allowed her to not consider herself a liar. That truth was not one she had planned on sharing, however.

Emelia had not thought Beorn's house was hot until they stepped outside into the cool air of early night. The cold air washed over her face, instantly making the heat from her blush feel slightly less prominent and bothersome.

"So, what is it you wanted to show me?" Emelia asked, opening her arms out to let the air wash over her. "It better be worth me mortifying myself for the hundredth time."

"I thought it was hilarious." Kili said, poking her in the side.

"I really do have to pee." Emelia said, stepping back from him so he wouldn't poke her again. "So, if we could make this quick, that would be fantastic."

"Emmy, I do not think I have ever met somebody who was capable of ruining moments more efficiently and effectively as you. Would you just let us show you something nice before you complain about it? Just this once?" Fili said, leading them past the meadows outside Beorn's home.

Emelia had to lift up her pants to keep them from dragging and catching on the grass as they moved farther and farther away from Beorn's house. Ori had been kind enough to give her the clothes she had first borrowed when she had needed a change of clothes after being rescued from the trolls. They were far too big for her, even more so now that she continued to lose weight, but they were relatively clean. She had managed to clean her clothes in the lake, but they were almost beyond wearable. She kept them, however. She couldn't really bring herself to give up on them entirely, although she wasn't really sure why.

"Sorry, Fee." Emelia said, not sure if he was insulting her or telling the truth in a harsher way than he intended.

"It's only a little farther, and then you can go relieve yourself all you want." Fili sounded slightly less enthusiastic about where they were taking her than before. Emelia knew she was to blame for that. She wasn't sure why, but whenever Fili and Kili told her they wanted to show her something or take her somewhere, she never fully trusted them. She supposed she should change that.

"I trust you." Emelia said suddenly. She hadn't meant to say it out loud, but there it was, floating over them, instantly changing the atmosphere of their walk. "Over-sharing, sorry."

Fili did not respond. He pushed back some of the brush from the trees, holding it to allow Emelia, Ori, and Kili to pass along in front of him. He smiled ever so slightly at Emelia, which she took to mean that he wasn't overly mad at her for being such an insufferable, distrusting, wary, killjoy. She knew it was something she needed to work on. It was something she needed to work on when she was home in Alaska and she imagined being so far away from home had intensified the need to improve that particular part of her personality even more.

They walked in silence for approximately ten more minutes before Fili finally stopped. He placed one of his hands over her eyes, using his other to guide her so that she wouldn't trip. She did not protest, like she normally would have, and allowed him to lead her over the roots sticking out from the ground so that she wouldn't trip. Kili and Ori followed along behind them, chatting idly with each other.

"We saw this the other night, while you were passed out like a drunk…"

"I was recovering." Emelia reminded him, blinking rapidly against his slightly sweaty hand. "If you'll recall, I was involuntarily drafted into the all dwarf track team."

"How could I forget?" Fili asked dryly, lifting her up over a particularly large root. "You can look."

Emelia thought Alaska ran the gambit on beautiful things, truly. As beautiful as she found Beorn's home, she still thought Alaska was more beautiful. She didn't feel that in that moment, standing with Kili, Fili, and Ori. They had somehow managed to take all of her breath away with one simple act. She was certain she had lost all ability to breathe, think, and understand just at the sight in front of her.

"It's… god, it's so beautiful."

The lake that she had bathed in earlier that day had been transformed into something more magical than she could have ever imagined at night. The surface of the lake was like glass, undisturbed and perfect, reflecting the millions of stars above them perfectly. The moon was in both the middle of the sky and the lake, pristinely white like she had only seen it a few times before back in Alaska. She moved to stand closer to the edge of the lake, not even aware of the three dwarves standing behind her. She felt even worse that she hadn't trusted them when they said they wanted to show her something so supremely wonderful.

"I knew you would like it." Kili had managed to sidle up behind her while she was staring at the sight before them.

"I… I… love it. Kee, I really love it." She felt him reach a hand down to grab a hold of her hand.

"Do you remember that night after the Goblin King," He paused. "Of course you remember, it was less than a week ago." He muttered that part more to himself than her. "You said something about how much you loved the stars. You said that you missed your stars more than anything. I thought you would like these. You said stars could never be ugly, but there are certainly some that are more beautiful than others, if you like that sort of thing."

"I didn't think you were really listening to me." Emelia admitted, not bothering to look away from the lake.

"I listen to every single word you say. I listen to you when you're talking about your bodily functions, and I listen to you when you're yelling at me, and most of all I listen to you when you're sharing something about where you are from. You looked so sad when you were talking about your stars and it I couldn't really do much about it. I'm doing something, we're doing something, about it now."

Emelia looked at him in complete and utter shock. She had never been so floored by anything someone had said in her entire life. Her stomach had been twisting up in knots when he first started talking and now she was certain it wouldn't ever become untangled. She wasn't sure how she was supposed to respond to him, not when he was being so undeniably charming and endearing. It did not help that the moon was lighting him perfectly, making him look like some sort of oddly handsome, oddly hairy, male model.

"I might have been wrong earlier." She finally managed to squeak, fully aware of Fili and Ori snickering at their interaction behind them.

"About what exactly? There are so many instances I can think of."

"Perhaps the dwarf women aren't good enough for you, not the other way around."

Emelia wasn't sure why she was sharing so much, but apparently it was the mood she was in the night. All thoughts of her bladder were entirely forgotten. All thoughts of Ori, and Fili, and Beorn, and the orcs were erased from her mind as she stared at him.

"I do believe that is the nicest thing you've ever said to me."

"So when I try and show you pretty things I get called names, but when Kee does it you look at him like you want to snog the stubble off his face. Nice Emmy." Fili spoke up from behind them, effectively ruining any moment, if it could be called a moment, she was sharing with Kili. "That's really nice."

She stepped back from Kili, pulling her hand away from his. "If you are referring to the rainbow, that was entirely your fault. You have terrible timing, obviously." She glanced at Kili, seeing him folding his arms over his chest as he started at his brother with a mixed look of amusement and annoyance. "I was in a terrible mood and your feeble attempts at cheering me up were about as weak as my mother's holiday eggnog."

Fili stepped up to her, rolling his eyes at her words. "I appreciate you too, Emmy."

"We should get going. Dori will have my head if we're out too long." Ori sounded nervous.

Emelia saw him slip his pen into his pocket while he closed the sketchbook she hadn't noticed he had actually brought along. She was wondering why Ori had come with them. Now she had her answer. She should have guessed he would want to sketch the lake. It truly was something that should be documented. She had seen so many ugly things, so many nasty things that made her nightmares from her childhood seem like nothing. That lake, in that moment with those three dwarves, should be cherished.

It should be remembered.

"I over-shared on a lot of things tonight, but I think you guys can handle one more." Emelia said, stopping Fili, Kili, and Ori as they made to head back to Beorn's house. "I don't know if you intended to, but this is the most thoughtful thing that anyone has ever done for me. My parents have given me lots of things, and my brother has given me lot of things that I don't know what to do with, but were thoughtful all the same. Those were different though. Those were from my family and family is kind of obligated to give you things. You aren't my family and yet here we are." She gestured to the lake behind her.

"Emmy you have done so much for us…"

"No, listen." Emelia stopped Fili before he could explain away their gift to her. "I would do that stuff again. I would face the Goblin King again, in a heartbeat. I wouldn't need anything from any of you to inspire me to do it again. I didn't do that as a favor for you, because it's not a favor when it's for people that you, well, people that you care immensely about."

Fili, Kili, and Ori glanced back and forth at each other. "Let me clarify. I am not happy most of the time, but you dwarves make me somewhat not so depressed. Sometimes I wonder why all of this happened to me, why I was torn away from my family, but when I'm with you guys I wonder less. I wonder less because I start to think that I was meant to go with you and help you in any way I can. Maybe that's why I am here."

"You ramble a lot." Kili said, effectively ending any warm thoughts she was feeling towards them at the moment.

"I'm never sharing anything again, you ass."

"I listened to every word though, and I think I got the main bits. In your own very confusing Emelia way, you're saying to us that you're starting to feel not so mad at us. I think I've noticed you glaring less, which is an improvement." Kili stepped back from her when she made to hit him. "Emmy, we wanted to show you this because you deserve it after everything you've done. I know we don't value you as much as you deserve, but we really wanted you to know that the good things you do are not unnoticed and will certainly never be forgotten."

"This is the most chick-flicky moment of my entire life." Emelia said, feeling unnaturally emotional towards Kili, Fili, and Ori.

"Dori is really going to kill me." Ori reminded them, drawing the moment that they had just shared to a resounding close.

* * *

After the urging of Ori, they began to make their way back to the house. Emelia felt almost as warm as she had been in Beorn's house, but for an entirely different reason. She didn't think much of what she said made sense, but that didn't appear to have mattered to her companions, her friends, her dwarves. Kili had grabbed her hand when they began to make their way back to the house, and didn't show any signs of letting go. She didn't mind. His hand was huge, sweating more she would have liked, but there was something about it that comforted her.

"I forgot. I have to pee." Emelia said, stopping them in their tracks. Fili laughed, shaking his head. He was being surprising tactful in ignoring the fact that she was currently holding hands with his brother. He kept shooting snarky looks at the two of them, but otherwise said nothing.

"How could you forget that sort of thing?" Ori asked.

"Just wait a moment?" Emelia asked, pulling her hand out of Kili's.

"Ori will go with you." Fili said, leaning back against one of the tree's to wait for her.

"Why? Isn't that a little weird." Emelia was not exactly keen to have Ori listening in on her while she peed what she was sure was going to rival the volume of Niagara Falls at any given moment. "Actually, more than a little weird."

"I would say Kili can escort you, but we all know he couldn't be trusted around you while your pants are down."

"There it is." Emelia rolled her eyes, taking a subconscious step away from Kili. "I knew you weren't being quiet without reason. You were waiting for the perfect moment, weren't you?"

"Of course." Fili said it as if it was the most obvious thing in the entire world. "I'm his big brother. I wouldn't be doing him justice if I wasn't bothering him in some fashion. It just so happens you are a part of it."

"Alright, enough Fee." Kili cut across them, the blush on his cheek just barely peeking out in the moonlight streaming through the trees.

"I'm going to go pee. Ori, look alive. Apparently, you supposed to keep me alive for the two minutes it takes me to elevate the Olympic amount of liquid currently bouncing around inside me." Emelia stalked off into the trees, knowing full well that she had once again over-shared. Ori followed along behind her, leaving the laughing brothers waiting in the small clearing they had found themselves in. Emelia walked only far enough away so that she knew Fili and Kili wouldn't be able to hear her going to the bathroom. Something about the thought of Kili hearing her pee rubbed her the wrong way. It was probably the fact that she currently couldn't stop thinking about his hands, and his nose, and pretty much everything else about his ridiculously handsome self. But she pushed those thoughts aside, willing herself to think about anything else in that moment.

"I'll just be behind this tree." Emelia said to Ori, ignoring the awkward look on his face.

Ori nodded at her, turning his back to her to give her more privacy.

When she was certain he wasn't going to see any bits of her that he really shouldn't be seeing, she pulled down her pants to finally relieve herself. She was about halfway through, when a twig snapped behind her.

"Ori?"

He didn't respond to her.

"Ori?" She called his name louder, willing herself to pee faster so that she could return back to the safety of being with Fili and Kili.

He still didn't respond to her once again. Emelia knew she shouldn't have been panicking. Ori was just being polite to her, what with her currently half naked state. That being said, she couldn't stop herself from whimpering when the snaps of the twigs got louder and closer.

"Ori, I know I'm not wearing pants, but could you jus…"

She didn't get to finish her sentence. She didn't even get to pull up her pants before she was grabbed by the feet from behind and dragged roughly to the ground, her surprised scream muffled by the dirt she suddenly found herself face first in.


	26. Hair

There were few things more embarrassing than being caught with your pants down. Normally, it was nothing more than an expression. In Emelia's case it was anything but.

As she was being dragged backwards, through her own urine it should be noted, she was sure she had never experienced anything more equally mortifying and terrifying. She screamed until she realized that all it accomplished was forcing her to eat even more dirt. She began to gag, struggling to stop herself from breathing in too deeply. It was hard, considering she how much she was currently panicking. She didn't know who had her ankles or why they seemed to be hell-bent on ripping her legs out of her hip sockets. She did know, however, that they weren't anybody that she would want to be around, if she were to be given a choice in the matter.

Emelia kicked her legs in a desperate attempt to get the person holding her ankles to let go. It didn't work, not that she expected it to.

When she realized that kicking wasn't working, she switched tactics. She started clawing with her hands to grab a hold on anything substantial enough to hopefully deter the person currently attempting to grab her. She was able to grab hold of a root long enough to flip herself over.

She wished she hadn't.

Two orcs stood over her, snarling their teeth at her and brandishing their weapons. Her leg seemed to move with a mind of its own when she caught sight of them. It flew up, catching one of them square in the mouth. Black blood spurted from its mouth and nose, dripping onto her legs as the orc leaned over her, large knife moving dangerously close to her exposed skin. She was thankful that it was only two of them. Two was manageable, even if it was slightly delusional for her to think so. There was a large one, covered in staples and cuts and scars and other things she was sure weren't supposed to be attached to a body. The smaller one was sickly looking with flaps of skin hanging off its face and arms. She wasn't sure which one scared her more, although neither of them was something she would want to see in the middle of the night while she had her pants down.

Emelia kept kicking while simultaneously struggling to pull her pants up. She couldn't reach all the way down to her ankles, however, resulting in the horrible situation becoming even more unbearably horrible.

"Kili! Fili!" She kicked her legs even more furiously, hoping to catch them hard enough that she might be able to make a run for it. "Ori!"

"Shut 'er up." The larger one snarled at the one holding her legs. The smaller one moved towards her, hand raised up over her face. It growled at her, bearing its black and pointed teeth. She got the fleeting notion that the orc as smiling for a moment, which made her wonder if orcs had the ability to smile, before she pushed that thought aside. She had other things to focus on besides orcs and their ability, or lack thereof, to smile.

"Somebody hel…"

* * *

"I noticed you couldn't stop staring at Emmy." Fili broke the silence, fiddling with one of his knives in his hands.

Kili looked up from where he had been staring at the place Emelia and Ori had disappeared to. His arms were crossed over his chest, a thoughtful look on his face. "Neither could you, Fee."

Fili laughed, stepped away from the tree he had been using to lean on. He slipped the knife back into his hood. He moved to stand closer to Kili, a full medley of good natured japes planned. "Ah, but not in the same way."

Kili did not respond. He glanced over at Fili, hoping that he wouldn't be smirking like he usually did when he was making fun of him. Kili was not in luck. His elder brother was smiling like he knew some sort of secret, like he knew something that Kili didn't. Kili had never been very fond of that look. When they were younger it never meant anything good for him. Whenever Fili sported that look Kili was more likely to end up in trouble with their mother than out of trouble.

"Stop looking at me like that." Kili said, turning back to look in the direction Emelia and Ori had gone.

"Like what?"

Kili rolled his eyes. "Like when you thought that I fancied Fwerna. You had the same look then."

"You fancy Emelia, I would think it's appropriate to use the same look."

"I do not." Kili said, a bit louder than he meant to. He immediately looked to see whether or not Emelia could be coming back. He would hear her and Ori moving through the trees before they came back, more so Ori than Emelia, so his paranoia was a bit unfounded. He couldn't seem to stop the sinking feeling in his gut when he thought about Emelia hearing him and Fili talking about her. He could just see her throwing her red hair over shoulder in annoyance, before folding her arms over her chest. He could just see her pursed lips.

"Except, now that I think about, I don't think you ever really fancied Fwerna."

"And why is that?" Kili asked, reluctant curiosity filling him up.

"She was too hairy for you." Fili said simply, reaching up a hand to tug at one of his mustache braids. "I will admit, she did have a fair amount more chest hair than most dwarf women, but still, she was beautiful."

"What does that have to do with Emelia?" Kili asked, entirely apprehensive as to what Fili was going to say next.

"Do you recall when we were first in Rivendell? You were talking about how elf women weren't really your preference. I believe it was 'all high cheek bones and creamy skin.' At the time, I almost believed you." Fili looked proud of himself. He moved closer to Kili, the smirk on his face getting wider.

"What are you on about?"

"I saw you, when you were looking at the harp player. Dwalin did too, although I think he probably thought you were merely thinking with your trousers." Fili paused, moving so that he was standing right next to Kili. He clapped his hand on Kili's shoulder, leaning in to speak to him conspiratorially. "I know you better though. I know you well enough to know when you're lying."

"So?" Kili did not like what Fili was hinting at.

"There was something else that stood out to me during that dinner. Do you remember what you said to Emelia?"

"Probably something nasty. I didn't exactly like her at the time. But I'm sure I don't need to remind you of that." Kili said, slightly annoyed with how persistent his brother was being.

"You said she looked like a miniature elf. She probably thought you were insulting her, but I think you were saying something else entirely."

Kili felt slightly idiotic for not understanding what Fili was trying to say to him from the beginning. Kili refused to meet his gaze, suddenly and insincerely becoming extremely interested in the tree line. He normally didn't consider himself one that was prone to blushing. That was something he generally considered to be more in the female domain. Emelia was always blushing. She seemed to be blushing every time he was around her, but he sometimes thought he was imagining things. He might be over flattering himself to think that he was causing all of her blushes. His general attitude toward blushing aside, he could feel his cheeks heating up as his brother continued to pester him and bother him about Emelia.

"It seems a little quiet to you, doesn't it?"

"You're deflecting." Fili said, dismissing the look on Kili's face.

"I'm being serious."

"Kili! Fili!"

Kili felt his blood run cold at the scream reverberating through the trees. He knew Emelia's voice when she was scared. He had heard her screaming more times that he cared to admit or think about. The difference in all those times was that she was in a situation that would cause her to be screaming. Last he was aware relieving one's self did not usually involve screaming. He knew that Emelia would not have wanted him to escort her to do her business, but in hindsight he thought one of them probably should have gone with her besides Ori.

"Ori!"

Fili and Kili took off into the trees, both drawing their weapons. Fili pulled out two of the knives that he kept on his person at all times. Fili had always favored knives more than Kili. All the same, knives were the only thing that Kili had. They both moved faster when they heard Emelia scream again, much louder than all of the times before. All of the joking between the two of them was completely forgotten as they quickly made their way towards where they thought the noise was coming from.

They heard the sounds of muffled screaming bouncing off the trees, breaking the once peaceful silence.

Kili didn't even bother to fight the guilt. She was only supposed to relieving herself. This night was supposed to be them giving her a gift, to say thank you for all of the terrible things she had been through.

Nothing was supposed to happen to her.

* * *

Emelia was certain she was never going to go anywhere without being armed ever again. If she had a knife she might have been able to do something about the orc currently holding her. While she knew she wasn't the best as using sharp objects, as the incident with goblins would indicate, she would have felt much better if she had been able to at least attempt to defend herself. She could have at least hacked until she hit something. All she was able to do was kick and claw at the orc in the most pathetic and feeble way imaginable.

She normally didn't have negative feelings towards her own bladder. In fact, she didn't really have feelings towards it at all. She fully hated it currently. If she had only been able to hold it, she wouldn't be in the mess she was in. Emelia's vision was slightly blurry from the punch she had received when she had kept trying to call for help. She felt her eyelid and the skin around her eye beginning to swell and pulse painfully. She thought she felt blood dripping down the side of her face, but she couldn't be sure. It might have been her own urine, knowing her luck.

The larger orc had left Emelia and the smaller orc alone some time ago. He had his paw of a hand covering her mouth, gagging her with the force. His other hand, if they could even be called that with all the metal and scars, grabbed a knife to hold against her neck. The ragged edge of the blade pressed into her skin, cutting her ever so slightly. The cut stung, but it seemed so small compared to the one on her chest. Her neck muscles tensed up involuntarily. She could feel her body beginning to slip into full on panic mode when the orc dug its fingers into her cheek, leaving behind what she knew would be finger shaped bruises. There was nothing she could do about it. There was nothing she could do at all.

Emelia wondered where Ori was. He shouldn't have been too far away from her. She hadn't moved that far away from him when she had gone to do her business. He should have been right there, right where she needed him. Morbid scenarios began to race through her mind the longer she was forced to wait. He could have been right there and they could have killed him. He could have been coming to help her when she called for him and they could have grabbed him the same way they grabbed her and killed him without so much as a second thought.

"Where're yer dwarves?"

Emelia uttered a muffled response, struggling to move her face back from the orc's hand and knife.

"Nothing to say?" The orc laughed out loud.

There was a sudden rustling through the trees in front of them. Emelia hoped that it would be Ori, or Kili, or Fili, or somebody. She wouldn't have minded if it was Thorin or Dwalin. She wasn't wearing pants, but she wouldn't have minded. They wouldn't say anything. They would help her. The rustling grew louder, intermixed with the sounds of struggle, until the larger orc stepped into the clearing, pulling a very confused and frightened looking Ori along behind him by the hair.

"Would you look at tha'." The orc holding Emelia lifted her up even higher, bending his head to speak directly into her ear. She could feel his rancid breath on her. Bile rose up involuntarily when she got a whiff of it. She squirmed even more, trying desperately to get away. "One of yer filthy dwarves heard you scream."

"Let her go." Ori managed to splutter. He was looking at her with the worst possible face of regret she had ever seen. She almost lost what little nerve she had left right then and there. To think that Ori would think that this was his fault made Emelia instantly feel even worse.

The larger orc laughed loudly, delivering a solid punch to the back of Ori's head. "I'd keep quiet if I were you."

Emelia could not tear her gaze away from Ori. He looked so scared it made fresh hot tears spring up, threatening to spill over. She moved her head back, arms coming up to claw at the hands of the orc holding her. Neither she nor Ori deserved to die because a pair of dingy, dirty, good for nothing pieces of cow dung decided it would be fun to grab a girl while she was peeing. She had come too far to let herself, or anyone else for that matter, be killed over something so small, so unimportant.

"Shut 'er up." The larger one snarled. "We don't wan' more of 'em coming."

The orc hissed at her as she began to struggle even more. It moved its knife away from her neck, wrenching her body down so that her head was level with its chest. She wasn't sure what he was doing until she heard the undeniable sound of his knife hacking through her massive amounts of hair. Red ringlets fell to the ground, shinning in the moonlight. She was finally able to reach her hands down to pull up her pants, so she wasn't that upset about all of her hair falling around her face.

"I thought dwarf women had more hair."

"Stop it!" Ori sounded more appalled by them cutting her hair than he should have been.

"Shut it you li…" The orc trailed off with a strangled gurgle emitting deep from within its throat.

The orc cutting Emelia's hair, which she still didn't understand why that was supposed to be so terrible, growled only for a moment before it too was silenced. She felt something warm spray over the back of neck. The grip on her hair slacked so suddenly Emelia fell down into her own pile of chopped off hair face first. She had never used her own hair as a pillow before, but she found it was oddly soothing, in a weird way. Before she could ponder her hair pillow even further, a weight that was heavier than a rock landed in an ungraceful heap on top of her. She struggled to breathe as her face was shoved forcefully into the ground. Her hands shot out, swiping at the weight in an attempt to get it off.

"Oh Mahal, Emmy!"

The weight was lifted off her. She sat up, not sure what she expected to find when she looked around the clearing. She could find Ori dead, or the orcs could have doubled in number, or the other dwarves might have spontaneously decided to go for a moonlight walk and happened upon her and Ori.

Or Fili and Kili, as she discovered when she sat up.

"You're bleeding." Kili shoved the orc body, which Emelia now saw was the weight previously on top of her, away from them. He gave it a particularly disdainful look before he turned his dark eyes back on her. "Why are you always bleeding?"

"Is Ori alright?" Emelia asked, completely ignoring his comment about who she was, in fact, bleeding once again. Her entire body was shaking. She looked around the clearing, bring her hands up to her neck. The cut on her neck stung when she touched it.

"I am well." Ori called from behind Emelia. "They didn't do any lasting damage." Ori glanced at the pile of Emelia's hair, eyes widening considerably when he saw the amount that had been cut off. He looked back at her, face taking on the same regretful look he had sported earlier when the orcs had still been alive.

"We should go back before more of them come." Fili pulled one of his knives out of the skull of the orc nearest to Ori, wiping it clean on the underside of his shirt. Fili glanced at Emelia and Kili, an odd look on his face when he caught Emelia's gaze. He too looked at the huge pile of hair for the briefest of moments before he turned back to make sure everything was alright with Ori. "Kili, carry Emelia."

"What? No I'm fine."

Emelia wasn't sure why, but the incident with the orcs didn't bother her as much as it probably should have. While she was being held she had thought mostly about Ori. There was something about orcs that seemed almost tame. The Goblin King was three times their size and three times as creepy. To her the worst was over. The orcs couldn't really do worse to her than the Goblin King. She might be naïve to think so, but she couldn't bring herself to feel as much fear about the orcs.

"You're not." Fili said without explanation. Emelia didn't quite understand why he was telling her how she was supposed to be feeling, but she didn't say anything in the hopes that she wouldn't make Fili mad. For all she knew he could be blaming her for getting them in trouble.

"Oin isn't going to be happy with me." Emelia said, breaking the silence that had fallen over all of them. She smiled cheekily at them until she realized that no one was smiling back. Kili merely nodded at her. "He just got finished sewing me up."

None of them said anything. Kili placed his hand on her lower back, leading her back towards the clearing that they had come from without a word. Fili threw an arm around the shaking Ori, supporting him. Emelia had the distinct impression he might be experiencing shock, but she kept quiet in that regard. Ori was already dealing with the incident without her throwing in her own misguided opinions. "Come on, lighten up. Me and Ori are okay, no harm, no foul."

"Wrong." Kili said simply. Emelia waited for him to elaborate. He didn't. He pushed back a branch, refusing to make eye contact with her.

They walked, or rather ran, back to Beorn's house in silence. Kili refused to meet her gaze despite the fact that she was looking at him with such intensity she thought he might combust at any moment. Normally, she would pester him into submission until he talked to her. She couldn't bring herself to do that this time around, however. There was something about the way Kili looked at her and the scenery around them that gave her pause. His hand was clenched around the knife, while the other was tensed against her back. There was something bothering them that she got the feeling she shouldn't mention. He didn't remove his hand from her back, however, so she didn't think what was bothering him had anything to do with her.

Emelia did not expect all of the dwarves to be waiting for them when they made it back inside Beorn's house. They were accosted the second they came in. A myriad of voices, all ranging in level of panic and anxiety, rang out at them. Emelia was immediately grabbed and pulled into an extremely tight hug by Bofur. He patted her on the back, lifting her off the ground. Nori and Dori grabbed the still very shell-shocked Ori and wrapped him in a three-way hug that looked simultaneously comforting and bone-crushing.

"Emelia, why are you bleeding again?" Bombur asked, drawing the rest of the company's attention to the blood trailing down the side of her face and the tiny bit coming from the ever so slight wound on her neck. Oin immediately moved towards her. He forced her to look up into the light from the candles, eyes narrowing when he looked at her swollen eye. He made a noise in the back of his throat, bringing up one of his thick fingers to feel around for any below the surface damage. He seemed pleased that she wasn't suffering any brain damage or otherwise and moved his attention to his neck. He pulled out a small handkerchief, pressing it to the small cut to wipe away the trickle of blood.

"Oh, just a little kerfuffle with a pair of orcs…"

"Emmy!" Fili looked at her like she had just told his darkest secret.

"What? It's not like it's some state secret."

"It wasn't actually supposed to be public." Kili hissed at her through the side of his mouth.

He turned to say something further to her, only to be stopped by the look that Thorin was giving them all. Emelia had never seen him look so murderous. When Ori had first let it slip about where they were going, the look Thorin had given her was puppies compared to the look he was currently throwing at them, and by them it was mostly her. The veins on his forehead were popping out and the skin of his neck was becoming redder and redder with each awkward moment that passed.

"Why were you out at night in the first place?" Thorin moved to stand in front of Fili and Kili, fixing them with the darkest look Emelia had ever seen. "You knew what was out there. You knew the orcs were following us and yet you went for a midnight walk. I brought you on this quest under the assumption that you were going to conduct yourself like the men you so adamantly professed to be."

"Uncle…" Fili sounded like he had been kicked repeatedly.

"We will discuss this further in private."

"If it makes you feel any better, the orcs are dead." Emelia should have probably known better than to open her mouth. Thorin turned his steely glare on her. He glared at her for a moment longer before he nodded his head at Dwalin. She took an involuntary step backwards, hands folding in front of her stomach. They both grabbed their weapons and moved towards the door, leaving every other dwarf standing awkwardly. She imagined they were going to check for any lingering orcs.

"All of you get some sleep. We are leaving in the morning." He gave one more acidic look to his nephews before stomping out of the door. She turned her head to the side, looking around Beorn's house in a painfully awkward way, waiting for the dwarves to decide that they had hovered around her enough for one night.

"Lassie!"

Emelia jumped at the sudden exclamation from Gloin. "What?"

"What happened to your hair?"

Emelia lifted her hand up to feel how much damage had been done when the orc had decided to become her impromptu hairdresser. It wasn't as bad as she thought it would be. When she had seen all of her hair on the ground she had thought she would be lucky if she had enough hair to not be mistaken for an unshapely boy. She ended up more fortunate than she had originally anticipated. Her hair now brushed just above her shoulders. She ran her fingers through it, taking note of how choppy and uneven the ends were. She forced herself to see the bright side of the situation. She had been wanting to cut off some of her hair for a while. It had become overly long and cumbersome. It had gotten caught on one too many branches for her to consider it to be nonhazardous.

"The orc cut it off."

Apparently, that was the wrong thing to say.

"They cut your hair?" Emelia did not understand why Gloin's voice had become angry.

"Yea, needless to say I won't be going back for when I need a trim. You say an inch, they always cut six." She giggled to herself until she realized that no one was laughing with her.

"How are you laughing about this?" Bofur asked, placing a tentative hand on her shoulder.

"It's just hair." Emelia said, shrugging her shoulders. "I'm more concerned about being grabbed in the middle of minding my own business, doing my business, by a pair of orcs that obviously missed the lesson on treating women with respect. I mean, who grabs somebody while their pants are down?"

"What?"

Emelia rolled her eyes at the reaction of the dwarves.

"You weren't wearing pants?" Kili had a look of disbelief and horror on his face. His eyes trailed over her body, checking for what she assumed he thought would be hidden signs of more injuries on her that she wasn't sharing with him. He moved closer to her, hands coming up to grab a hold of her shoulders. She had never seen him look so alarmed in her entire life.

"They cut her hair." Bofur seemed to be having trouble processing her newest hair style.

"Yea, they did." Emelia spoke a little slower, hoping to move on from her hair. "Look, its fine."

"They didn't, you know, touch you…" Kili eyes kept glancing down to her legs. His face was horrified, although Emelia couldn't exactly figure out why. Her brain was beginning to hurt from all the different conversations and questions that were floating around her.

"No, gross. I'm fine." Emelia felt her frustration building. "Look, my eye is starting to pulsate. Can we call it a night?"

"Emelia, they cut your hair." Emelia had never thought Bofur was one to fixate on things, but there he was, obsessing over her hair.

"Yes, we established that. My hair was cut. Can we move on?"

"They dishonored you." Gloin said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the entire world. Emelia felt her face scrunch up in confusion. She wished she hadn't made that face almost instantly. Her eye and neck stung horribly, causing her to wince, which caused more pain.

"I already said they didn't touch me. Well, beyond being a bit handsy with my face and neck."

"They dishonored you by cutting your hair."

Emelia rolled her eyes. She was able to ignore most of the odd things about the dwarves. She was able to ignore the way they ate most of their meals like it was their last. She ignored that most of them were a bit rasher than they needed to be. She ignored some of their obvious anger issues, although that was mostly Thorin and Dwalin. She wasn't sure how she was supposed to go along with the idea that hair was so important that it getting cut was somehow shameful, however.

"To a dwarf hair is how honor is shown. To have it cut off by something as foul as an orc is one of the worst things imaginable."

"Well it's a good thing I'm not a dwarf." She had never seen them look so hurt by anything she had ever said before. "I mean, oh god, I didn't mean that it would be a bad thing to be a dwarf. I just meant that I'm human and therefore cut my hair on a biannual schedule. The orcs just helped out with that."

"They thought she was a dwarf." Ori said suddenly, moving away from his two brothers. "They cut her hair thinking she was a dwarf."

The dwarves made noises of anger. Some of them clenched up their fists, others folded their thick arms over their chests. Fili refused to look at Emelia still, but at least she now had a reason for why he, and his brother, had been acting so weird in the forest. She felt an odd affection for the dwarves welling up in her chest. It made her feel warm to think that they were so offended on her behalf about something so small, small to her at least, as her long red hair. She had thought they viewed her as being separate from them, different in most ways imaginable. Throughout the duration of their time together she had felt like an outsider, what with her slight stature and out of place culture.

"When a warrior has their braids cut it represents shame." Gloin said. She imagined he valued braids more than most average dwarves. He had the most fabulous beard she had ever seen.

"I'm not a warrior." Emelia said quietly, affection for the dwarves swelling at the same rate as her eye with each moment she spent with them.

"Do not be silly, lass." Bofur spoke loudly, throwing an arm around her shoulder. "You're fiercer than a Goblin King and scarier than orcs in the middle of the night."

"I think you're over embellishing just a bit." The dwarves laughed, shaking their heads. "But thank you."

"Thorin advised us to get some sleep and I think we would be wise to heed his words. We are all very happy you are relatively unharmed, Miss Emelia." Balin smiled warmly at Emelia, before turning to address the rest of the dwarves. "To bed, all of you."

The dwarves began to disperse, leaving Emelia with half sympathetic half happy looks. Ori looked at her the longest. He still looked at her with the same amount of regret that he had displayed earlier. She made a mental note to talk to him in private. She moved her hand up to her hair, feeling the ends with an entirely new perspective as she watched all the dwarves move to their respective sleeping places. The choppy ends made her much sadder than they had earlier when she thought about it from the dwarves' perspective. The ends poked her palms like knives, adding the sudden feeling of embarrassment that washed over her. The dwarves were shamed by her hair and she couldn't stop the sudden feeling that they weren't going to be able to look at her the same.

"Come on, Emmy. You should get some sleep. We are leaving early in the morning." Kili placed his hand on her shoulder, attempting to move her towards where she had slept the last couple of nights.

"Do I look shameful?" Emelia asked suddenly, stopping him from helping her to her spot.

Kili looked at her, dark eyes fixating on the ends of her hair. "No. I think it suits you."

"But Gloin…"

"Gloin shouldn't have said all that in front of you." Kili leaned down so as not to be overheard by the dwarves as they pulled their blankets over themselves. Some of them were eyeing the two of them suspiciously. "It wasn't your fault."

"My hair is shorter than yours now." She pointed to the ends of his hair.

"Does that bother you?"

"No. Well, yes, but I think only because it bothers all of you."

"I don't mind the change. I wish it hadn't been done the way it was, but like I said, it suits you." He played with the ends of her hair with his fingers, curling one of the loose curls around his thumb.

"Go to bed, Kili." Balin folded his arms over his chest. He eyed Kili, rolling his eyes when he saw the cheeky look the younger dwarf gave him. "The poor girl has been through enough without you harassing her more."

"I'm sure she doesn't mind." Kili called back to Balin. He winked over at Emelia, earning a chuckle and a blush.

"Keep complimenting my hair and you can harass me any time." Emelia immediately threw her hand up to cover her mouth relaxing what she had just said. She should probably start thinking about what she said before she blurted it out. "No. Never mind. Please forget anything I've ever said ever."

"Go to bed, Emelia."

She nodded her head, moving towards her straw pile without a second glance at Kili. Yet again she had embarrassed herself in front of him. It seemed it was going to become a pattern between them if she didn't learn to stop being such an undeniable embarrassment in everything she said and did.


	27. Thorin Oakenass

Leaving Beorn's house was a more mournful experience than Emelia expected. She woke up, forgetting for the briefest of moments that they were leaving, and smiled at nothing in particular. She felt her smile dissipate almost instantly when she saw Fili standing over her, a knowing look on his face. There was something odd about his expression, but Emelia wasn't exactly sure what it was. He bent down next to her, placing his elbows on his knees. He seemed to understand her confused look, but said nothing about it. She also found that to be odd. Fili always had something to say, especially if it involved bothering her in some way.

"We are leaving soon. It's time to get moving." He smiled at her but the gesture did not reach his light blue eyes. Emelia sat up further, narrowing her eyes in suspicion at the peculiar look on her friend's normally very happy face.

"What's wrong?"

Fili's forced smile fell ever so slightly when he saw the suspicious look on her face. "Nothing."

"It isn't nothing." Emelia stood up, fording Fili to follow after her into a standing position. The other dwarves were too busy packing up their own minimal belongings to notice the two of them talking. Emelia looked around for Kili and his mop of messy dark hair, only to find herself disappointed when she didn't find him. She knew Fili was watching her look around Beorn's house so she turned back to face him, forcing her attention back on his odd self. "Seriously, Fee. You look like somebody spat all over your favorite slice of pie."

"I do not like pie, Emelia."

Emelia bent down to where she had been sleeping. She picked up the tattered remains of her traveling clothes, looking them over with disdain and disappointment. She did not relish the thought of having to travel in Ori's oversized clothes, but she didn't see how she had any other options. If she wore her old clothes she was more liable to embarrass herself even further with an unfortunate wardrobe malfunction than not. That being said, she made a mental note to not leave without acquiring a belt of some sort to keep her pants up. She didn't think Ori would ever even attempt to look at her again if she accidentally flashed him, or anyone else for that matter, again.

"Everybody likes pie."

"I do not." Emelia knew something was genuinely wrong with Fili when he didn't even try and make some snide comment or joke about his lack of fondness for pie.

"Will you eventually tell me what is bothering you?" Emelia lifted her old shirt up to her chest, eyes taking in the large brown blood stain. It was truly a shame that something so pretty was covered in something as gruesome as blood.

"Probably not." Fili pinched the bridge of his nose, a look of utter stress flashing across his face for the briefest of moments.

Emelia was just about to respond, a plethora of slightly offended responses bouncing around in her mind, when Kili came marching back followed by a very sour looking Thorin. Emelia was tempted to tell Thorin that if he kept his face in the same expression for long enough it would stick that way. She didn't think he would appreciate that, so she kept her comments to herself. Kili was wearing the same look as Fili. Emelia looked between Fili and Kili, cogs whirling in her brain.

"Does it have something to do with that?" She pointed over to Kili and Thorin, lowering her voice even more so as not to be overheard. Fili did not respond. Emelia let out a sigh of annoyance, turning away from him to collect the rest of her stuff. "Is there a reason you were here then?" Emelia wasn't sure why Fili was hovering next to her, given that he wasn't willing to share what was bothering him with her. She felt very petty, all of a sudden, for thinking that and immediately backtracked. "I mean, don't you have stuff to do before we leave?"

"I have something for you." Fili pulled something out from behind his back, ignoring the skepticism on her face. "I didn't really think you would need it, considering, but now that we're leaving I thought you should probably have it back." Fili handed Emelia the small sword Alunim had given to her before she left Rivendell. In truth, Emelia had completely forgotten about it with all the excitement that had happened. She instantly felt bad about forgetting about it. Alunim had been so sweet to give it to her and Emelia had gone and forgotten about it. She reached out her hands to grab the handle, smiling brightly at Fili for having the foresight to remember her weapon when they were escaping from the Goblin King.

"You remembered it."

"Yes, well I wasn't overly fond of the elf that gave it to you…"

"You didn't even know her."

"But, I know you liked her and would want to have the sword back."

Fili watched her with a tight look on his face, almost as if he was waiting for her to injure herself, as she looked over the sword in her hands. When he seemed satisfied that she wasn't going to put herself in any immediate danger he reached his hand into his cloak. "This one is from me and Kili." He pulled out a small knife that had intricate carvings on the handle. He hesitated for a moment, yet another odd look crossing his face, before he finally handed it to her. "I don't want what happened last night to ever happen to you again. Just promise me you'll keep this on your person at all times."

The concern in his voice made Emelia's stomach squirm with affection for the blonde dwarf. "Of course. I mean, I don't think it would have helped. But thank you, Fee. Really, thank you."

Fili nodded his head, placing his hand on her shoulder briefly before he stepped back from her. "Emelia, I am truly sorry for what happened last night."

With that Fili walked away from her, leaving her standing in the middle of her pile of hay holding onto two equally sharp knives, a look of utter confusion on her face. There was so much regret in his voice as if what had happened was his fault in some way. She made to follow him before she stopped herself. He didn't look like he wanted to talk to her and she wasn't in the mood to push his buttons when he had just given her two very precious, very important gifts out of nowhere. It went against every fiber of her being to let him walk away, but she turned back around and continued to gather her stuff, her own feeling of regret settling over her.

She glanced down at her legs, mentally cursing her damn bladder for what felt like the hundredth time as she prepared to leave Beorn's for what she assumed would be the last time.

* * *

Emelia had incorrectly assumed she would be sharing a horse with either Fili or Kili. When she had first seen the horses and more importantly the number of horses her mind had first jumped to the thought that she would share a horse with one of the two dwarves she was closest with. Neither of them seemed to share her sentiments. In fact, neither of them seemed very willing to look at her, let alone wanting to share a horse with her for however long they were going to be traveling that day She made to moved towards Kili despite that, slightly ashamed of herself at how much she was looking forward to sharing a horse with him, when she felt a small tug at her side.

Bilbo Baggins seemed uncomfortable when he looked up at her, hands folded in front of his tattered waistcoat. "Miss Emelia."

"Bilbo, hi."

The hobbit glanced around him, appearing to think over what he was going to say to her. Emelia, feeling just as awkward as Bilbo looked, reached up her hand to play with the choppy ends of her hair, glancing around at all of the dwarves as they picked out their respective horses.

"Emelia, you will be riding with Bilbo today." Thorin addressed with about as much disdain as he could muster. Emelia was used to him being angry all of the time, but for the first time she didn't think she really had anything to do with it. He nodded once to Bilbo before he continued to his own horse, not bothering to say anything further to Emelia as he went past them.

"What crawled up his ass and died?" Emelia said to more to herself than to Bilbo, but he appeared scandalized all the same.

"Erm, well, right." Bilbo looked around awkwardly once again. "Shall we find our horse?"

"Of course." Bilbo smiled ever so slightly at the rhyme, which made Emelia smile right back at him.

Bilbo gestured to one of the beautifully spotted horses when more silence fell between them. He had picked out one of the smaller ones, which was perfect for two of the smaller people. Or people and hobbit, but Emelia wasn't one for being overly specific. Bilbo had already loaded his own possessions onto the horse as well as packs of supplies from Beorn. Emelia pulled the woven pack Beorn had given her off her shoulder, moving over to help Bilbo secure it to the well behaved horse.

"Do you think he has a name?" Emelia moved to stand in front of the horse, rubbing her hands over its soft nose. It nuzzled her hand, breathing deeply against the palm. There was something about its eyes that made her feel peaceful. "Probably. We wouldn't be able to understand it though, considering neither of us speaks horse. It's probably made up of all high-pitched neighing."

Bilbo stopped his movements to listen to Emelia. He leaned out in order to see her better. She was making faces at the horse, smiling to herself when the horse would respond. She leaned closer to the horse, placing a soft kiss on his nose. The horse stepped closer, seeming to understand Emelia and the odd things she was talking about better than Bilbo and the dwarves did even after being around her for months and months. Bilbo wasn't the only one who noticed Emelia and the horse. Kili was watching her too, although his expression was vastly different than Bilbo's. Bilbo watched Kili watching Emelia, putting two and two together with the conversation he had overheard Thorin and his nephews having the night before.

"Bilbo, what do you think?" Emelia shook Bilbo out of his thoughts, forcing him to return his attention to whatever odd thing she was rambling on about.

"We like to name our horses after plants in the Shire."

"So what would you suggest for this fellow?" She moved to stand next to Bilbo, running her hand over the coat of the horse.

"Oak, perhaps?"

"Oak." Emelia tested out the name, leaning over to say the name to the horses face. "Too much like Thorin."

Bilbo glanced over at said dwarf, nodding his head ever so slightly at Emelia's assertion. "How about Toadstool?" Bilbo had never heard of any animal being named 'Toadstool' but for some reason he didn't think Emelia would care about that. She seemed happy with her name as she leaned in to whisper it to the horse, smiling to herself when the horse nodded its head up and down almost as if it was agreeing with her. Emelia placed a soft kiss on the nose of the horse before she turned her attention back onto Bilbo. "Are we leaving soon?"

"As soon as Thorin gives the signal and Gandalf returns from speaking with Beorn privately."

"I'm going to miss sleeping indoors." Emelia admitted, moving to stand closer to Bilbo to avoid being overheard.

"I will as well, but sleeping under the stars has its own advantages."

Bilbo glanced over to Beorn's house, face falling ever so slightly when he saw Gandalf walking towards them. Beorn, who Emelia had found she rather liked judging from the few encounters they had, nodded at the dwarves before disappearing back into his house. Emelia realized, seeing him walking away from all of them, that she should have thanked him for his hospitality when she had had the chance at breakfast that morning. She had been too distracted by both Fili and Kili refusing to speak to her, resulting in her sitting moodily between Oin and Gloin, pointedly ignoring everything around her with vigor.

Emelia shook her head, refusing to let the mood swinging brothers bother her. Well, bother her more than they normally did. She imagined they were probably just being weird about her hair. They were weird about everything else so she didn't consider it to be entirely out of character for them. It sill offended her though, as much as she wished it didn't.

"Do you need help getting up?" Bilbo asked, looking up at the horse with apprehension. She didn't need help getting on a horse, but she wasn't sure the same could be said for the hobbit. The horse was almost three times his size.

"I'm fine."

She was just about to suggest Bilbo get on first when Bofur came walking over to them, usual smile on his happy face. "Up you go, Bilbo." He bent down to allow Bilbo to use one of his hands as a step to get onto the horse. Now that Emelia was thinking about it, it probably wasn't best to put Emelia with the shortest member of their group. "Your turn, Lassie."

Emelia allowed Bofur to help her up on the horse behind Bilbo despite the fact that she knew she would be able to do it herself. She settled in behind Bilbo, smiling at Bofur before he walked away to his own horse. After a moment of awkwardly debating about where she was supposed to put her hands, Emelia finally decided Bilbo wouldn't be overly offended by her wrapping her arms around his waist. Bilbo shifted in his spot before he finally accepted how close they were sitting to each other. He coughed uncomfortably before he spurred the horse to follow after the line of horses carrying the rest of their company. To avoid making the situation even more uncomfortable, Emelia turned her gaze onto Beorn's house, mourning the loss of her pile of hay more than she ever thought she would.

* * *

Riding with Bilbo was not as awkward as Emelia thought it was going to be. In fact, it was quite the opposite. Emelia had made the rather unfortunate mistake of assuming that Bilbo was very similar to the dwarves. She didn't know what a hobbit was and had subsequently and incorrectly assumed they were like dwarves. They were close in size but that was about where the similarities ended. Bilbo was without a doubt the most delightfully entertaining person she had ever had the pleasure of encountering.

It had taken them approximately half an hour to realize they had more in common than Emelia would have ever thought possible.

"Of course, my mother would not allow me to leave my room for a week after I did that to her good drapes."

Emelia laughed out loud once again, feeling her cheeks beginning to hurt from how much she had been smiling with Bilbo. At one point during their journey, Gandalf had ridden over to join them, smiling at the sight of Bilbo and Emelia laughing out loud despite the serious mood that had once again settled over all of them.

"Who knew you were such a trouble maker, Bilbo Baggins." Emelia said, watching Gandalf out of the corner of her eye.

Emelia had not had much to do with Gandalf during their travels. She found him to be rather odd, if she was being perfectly honest. He wore a scarf, for one thing. Wearing scarves was not inherently weird; it was quite the contrary. Emelia often thought people that could wear a scarf for more than keeping warm and pull it off were on a level all their own. Emelia wasn't sure why Gandalf was wearing a scarf, however. He didn't seem like the type for fashion and the scarf was far too flimsy for warmth. Excluding the scarf, there were about a million things about Gandalf that unnerved Emelia. He seemed to stare through Emelia, like he knew everything she was thinking.

Emelia glanced over at Gandalf, taking note of the fact that he was, once again, watching her.

She stared at the back of Bilbo's neck in the hopes that Gandalf would move his attention on to bigger and more important things.

He didn't.

Bilbo, seeming to sense both the discomfort coming from Emelia and the scrutiny coming from Gandalf, turned the conversation away from the stories from his years in the Shire and towards their journey instead.

"How far are we from Mirkwood?"

"We will be there by early afternoon." Gandalf answered, surprising Emelia. She had no idea how big the place she was in was, but she was truly surprised that they would only have to travel for less than a day. It had taken them weeks to get to Rivendell and the goblins under the mountain after that.

"And after that?" Emelia almost didn't want to know the answer.

"We will take the Elf Road." Gandalf said, eyes taking in her confused look with interest. "It is the main road through the Woodland Realm. If our luck holds out, we will be able to follow the road until we reach the port that leads us to Lake Town."

Emelia had never heard of any of the places Gandalf was talking about, but she didn't think it was important. "Will the elves be as nice as the ones in Rivendell?" Emelia asked, thinking of Alunim and her kind nature.

"They are prouder than their valley dwelling kin, but not altogether unkind in nature."

In other words, no.

Emelia didn't know if she was excited about Mirkwood. It didn't exactly sound like the ideal vacation spot and the track record that the dwarves currently had was less than stellar. For all she knew they could be walking into something like the goblins, or the orcs, or the stone giants, or the trolls, or pretty much everything that crossed their paths. Emelia was exhausted of everything being so terrifyingly bad. It was more mental than physical, but she still felt like at any moment something bad was going to happen. It did not seem like too much to ask for at least one little part of their journey to be mundane and uneventful.

"I am sorry I have not been able to address your problem, Emelia."

It was hard for Emelia to hear Gandalf over the sounds of the horses they were riding and the numerous conversations between the dwarves. She wrapped her hand around Bilbo's arm in order to lean closer to Gandalf so she could hear him better.

"I'm sorry?"

"I had hoped Thorin would heed my words and leave you in Rivendell with me. There were individuals there who I thought might be able to offer more insight into your situation beyond my own limited knowledge concerning you."

Emelia almost fell off her horse. She would have if it hadn't been for Bilbo reaching over to stop her from toppling over. She couldn't exactly say she was surprised by the news that Thorin would completely ignore Gandalf's advice to leave her in Rivendell for her own good. She could say she was livid. Livid seemed like the proper word to describe how she felt about Thorin currently. The thought that he would be so singularly focused on himself and what he wanted for his quest to Erebor to ignore the fact that she needed help beyond just the dwarves babysitting her made her insides curl up in anger. She had the sudden urge to hit something, preferably Thorin's face.

"Could they have sent me home?" Emelia had to try and keep the anger she was currently feeling out of her voice. After all, it wasn't Gandalf she was currently imagining being eaten alive by a pack of rabid prairie dogs.

"I do not know Emelia. It is hard to say, considering I myself know very little about your situation. If I had to guess, and I am rarely entirely wrong, I would say the Valor has something to do with why you are here."

"And you're not on speed-dial with this Valor or whatever?"

Gandalf shook his head, despite not understand what speed-dial was. "I did not bring you here, and therefore I have no idea how I would be able to send you back."

"But these people in Rivendell could have helped? Possibly?"

"Possibly, yes." Gandalf said simply, turning to look at the path ahead of them to make sure they were still heading in the right direction.

"And Thorin Oakenass decided that that wasn't as important as, well, as important as his own problems." Emelia was certain if she wasn't on a moving horse she would kicking the life out of Thorin.

"Emelia." Bilbo placed one of his small hands on her arm that was wrapped around him.

"I think we should discuss this further, perhaps when we are in private." Gandalf suggested, indicating to Emelia that the conversation regarding Thorin was over. She imagined it was for the best. The more she talked about him, the more she thought she would truly want to hurt him. She already felt her animosity towards him boiling up to dangerous levels. She imagined, with her current feelings, the next time he even so much as looked at her she wouldn't be able to stop herself from punching him straight in the face.

* * *

Emelia was right when she didn't think Mirkwood sounded like an ideal vacation space. The trees dropped and twisted around each other like arms. The leaves looked discolored and brittle, like the nutrients that they should have been getting were being sucked away. It felt that the temperature had dropped ten degrees since they had left Beorn's home. The archway that she assumed indicated the Elf Road look dilapidated and crumbling. Emelia imagined something beautiful when Gandalf had mentioned the Elf Road, not the dingy, depressing, destroyed shadow of an entrance she was currently eyeing with disdain. If it was her choice they would turn right back around and never look back.

Apparently, nothing was her choice. Thorin Oakenshield had seen to that.

"Release the ponies." Gandalf announced much to the chagrin and displeasure of everyone.

"The forest looks like it's covered in scabies." Emelia muttered to herself as she lifted herself off Toadstool. She was not looking forward to walking once again any more than she was looking forward to spending any solid amount of time in Mirkwood.

Bilbo mumbled something in agreement that Emelia didn't think she was meant to fully hear. He seemed to think the same thing about Mirkwood, considering how he was eyeing the tree line like it had personally offended him. Emelia pulled her supplies off of Toadstool, waiting for Bilbo to do the same, before she removed the reins and bit from the horse's mouth. She moved to kiss him once again on his soft nose, feeling a bit more sad than she probably should have about him leaving.

All of the dwarves were not happy about releasing their ponies but knew better than to fight with Gandalf about it. Emelia was surprised, considering they seemed to like to fight about everything else. Gandalf moved into the edge of the forest on his own, leaving the dwarves, Emelia, and Bilbo to sort out their stuff. Emelia pulled her bag over her shoulder, settling it next to her hip in a way that she knew wouldn't bother her too much.

She watched all of the dwarves, making special efforts to avoid looking at Thorin. Her anger towards him was still bubbling dangerously. She was sure she hated him. More than sure.

She hated everything about him.

"Fili gave you the knife?" Emelia looked around, surprised to see Kili standing awkwardly next to her. She hadn't noticed him move towards her, leaving her a bit surprised to see him standing there. Bilbo glanced back and forth between them, an odd look on his little face, before he slipped away, leaving them in even more awkward silence.

She nodded, moving to step closer to him, only to have him step back from her. Emelia's stomach squirmed when she saw him step back from her.

"Emmy…"

Emelia wasn't sure why Fili and Kili had been acting so weird for the majority of the day, but she knew she didn't like the way it made her feel. Mirkwood was already gloomy looking enough without the two of them making her, and everybody else, feel worse.

"I did the carvings on the handle." Kili said, scratching the back of his head.

"Nice. Really artistic."

"Emmy, I'm sorry."

Emelia rolled her eyes involuntarily. "I don't exactly know what you're apologizing for this time, but I'll accept all the same." She paused, moving to once again step closer to him. She reached out a hand to stop him from stepping back from her again. "Seriously, the carvings are beautiful. I didn't know you did that sort of thing." She reached her hand into where she had stowed the knife, feeling around until she felt the cool handle. She pulled it out, smiling as she looked at the intricate designs.

"Bofur taught me."

"Maybe you could teach me. I mean, if you don't have any other cool dwarf things to do."

Kili seemed caught off guard for a moment before he managed to recover, a bright smile making its way onto his handsome face. "I would love to teach you."

Emelia pulled him into a hug, pointedly ignoring the discomfort that engulfed the two of them. She wrapped her arms around his neck, practically forcing him to return the gesture for a moment before he finally caved. She took it as a personal victory when she felt his arms around her waist. She knew she was going to hold the hug for longer than would be considered appropriate and normal if she didn't step back from him soon. She could feel his chest muscles underneath his clothes, making her feel suddenly hot in a way that she wasn't sure she would consider to be bad.

"Emmy, can I talk to Kili?"

Emelia sighed heavily, not exactly wanting to stop hugging Kili. She couldn't think of a single female who wouldn't feel the same way, though, so she didn't feel so bad. She stepped back from him reluctantly, turning to Fili. Fili was still acting strange, but there was something about the way he was looking at Kili that told her it probably wouldn't be the best idea to flesh out her concerns in that exact moment. She nodded her head at them, smiling at Kili before she walked away, leaving the two of them alone.

"You're completely ignoring what Uncle said." Fili said the moment he was sure Emelia would no longer be able to hear them.

Kili, who had been watching Emelia as she left, turned to face his brother. "I am not."

"What would you call it?" Fili folded his arms over his chest. Fili did not like having to have these sorts of conversations with his little brother. They made him feel like he was 150 rather than 82.

"I wouldn't give it a specific name." Kili said, skirting around the issue.

"I would. I would call it complete and utter disregard for what Thorin told us." Fili said, a bit louder than he meant to. Some of the other dwarves looked over at them, slight confusion on their faces. "After what happened last night…"

"Fee, I'm not going to ignore her. I tried today and it lasted for about seven hours." Kili said simply. "I know Uncle thinks she is a distraction, and she bloody well might be, but I'm not going to…"

"Kee, don't be a fool. Uncle trusted us to accompany him. He trusted us to follow him and do our job to aid him in any way we can."

"And I am following him. I like to think I'm helping." Kili smirked slightly at Fili. He waited for his brother to smile back like he usually did. When he did not, Kili took on a more serious tone. "I don't see what Emelia has to do with that."

Fili shook his head, trying, and failing, to think of the best way to explain what he was trying to hint at to Kili. "She has everything to do with it."

Kili narrowed his eyes at his brother, suspicion filling him up. Fili had been acting a bit off ever since Emelia and Ori had been attacked. Normally, Kili didn't think much of it. He didn't, actually, until their uncle had pulled them aside, anger and disappointment etched all over his stony face.

"Fee, you've been Emelia's biggest supporter from the moment we met her. You were the one who told me that she was worth more than I thought, that I shouldn't just treat her like she wasn't anything special."

"I have never once asked you to treat her like that again. Nor has Thorin." Fili paused, stepping even closer to Kili. "Last night changed things, Kee. You have to see that."

"Emelia and Ori are both fine. Emelia lost a bit of hair, but I don't think that really bothers her. I find I am rather fond of it actu…"

"Kee, we were distracted and because of that both her and Ori were hurt."

"So your solution is to distance yourself so that when she gets hurt, and she inevitably will because I have never met someone so danger prone in all my life, is that we should just be as far away from her as possible?" Kili did not sound impressed with his brothers suggestion. "Brilliant, Fee. Really brilliant."

"Kili, I'm not saying that…"

"No, you're not. Not anymore. Fili, I'm not going to go back to ignoring her, or hating her, or anything else. If you're so worried about being distracted by her, that's your decision, you can stay away from her. I, however, can not."


	28. Mirkwood Bingo

Emelia was slightly more bitter than she should have been about Gandalf leaving. She hardly knew the man and thought he was horrendously unsettling at the best of times, but that didn't stop her from feeling slightly embittered and pouty. She did not expect him to go flitting off to who knows where so soon after he had dropped the bomb of the information he had, or more accurately the lack of information he had about her and her maybe, possibly, probably not, going home. Emelia thought he was going to stay with them all the way until Erebor. Apparently, he had better things to do.

His departure left Emelia pondering what he had said alone, in her own moody way, as they trekked through Mirkwood.

Mirkwood was worse on the inside than it was on the outside, Emelia had decided. It was miserably dim and eerily green. Emelia thought for a moment that they were walking single file through a cloud of pollen. She quickly realized that was not the case when she took note of the fact that none of the trees seemed healthy enough to grown proper leaves, let alone produce enough pollen to turn the air and ground around them as green as it was.

The sun had left them as quickly as Gandalf had, resulting in the company fumbling around as best they could, moods turning south with each step they took. Thorin led them in front, which caused Emelia to stick as far to the back as she could so she could avoid him as best as possible. She didn't think the dwarves would take to her too kindly if she spontaneously started punching Thorin. Bilbo walked in front of her, oblivious to Emelia and her wandering thoughts.

"I don't like the noises." Emelia whispered to Bilbo, breaking the silence that had stretched between them for the last two hours or so. "Sounds like a pack of rapid squirrels is coming to get us."

Bilbo smiled slightly, glancing over at her over his shoulder. "I do not mind the squirrels. It is the cobwebs that worry me." Bilbo pointed to the nearest clumping of trees. It was covered in ominously dark cobwebs that stretched out past their line of sight into the forest. Emelia did not want to think about what size spiders could have made the massive cobwebs.

"I hate spiders." Kili said from behind Emelia. He was the rear guard of the group. It was the first time he had joined in the conversation since they had been in Mirkwood. He had been singularly focused on his job, despite Emelia's attempts to get him to play Mirkwood Bingo with her to pass the time. She had already found six blue mushrooms before she realized that he wasn't exactly paying attention to her. "Fili put one on my head when I was thirty."

"What a brat." Emelia said, smiling at the mental imagine of Fili sneaking up on Kili to plant a spider on him. She imagined he must have screamed like a little girl. She suddenly stopped walking, seeming to realize what Kili had just said. "I'm sorry, did you just say thirty?" She turned to face him, fully expecting him to smile at her in the cheeky way that she had come to associate with him joking around with her. He wasn't. In fact, he looked slightly confused at the alarmed expression on her face.

"Well, yes?"

"And that would make you like 32 now, or…" She trailed off, trying to find any sign that Kili was the age he was saying. He had no lines on his face, no spots, no early grey hairs; nothing but handsome features and youthful looking eyes.

"Seventy-seven."

Emelia laughed out loud for a moment before she realized that Kili wasn't laughing with her. "Oh come off it. You don't honestly expect me to believe that you're seventy-seven, do you?"

"I'm not lying." Kili said, glancing over Emelia's shoulder to see the rest of the company. "Come on, we don't want to get separated."

Emelia was silent for a moment, thinking, before she finally blurted out what she was thinking at Kili.

"Kee, are you part elf?" Emelia asked as Kili guided them back to being closer to the rest of the company. She whispered her question, finally putting the pieces together in her mind. The elves that she had encountered in Rivendell had been well over six hundred and looked like they weren't a day over twenty. It seemed only logical that Kili would have to have some sort of elf blood in him. She knew saying so would probably cause an uproar with the rest of the dwarves, so she kept her voice down. "I mean, you don't look like you're older than twenty, twenty-one if you squint."

"I will ignore that elf comment, Emmy." Kili did not look as upset as she imagined another dwarf would have. Emelia made a mental note to keep her observations about heritage to herself from that point on. "Dwarves age differently than humans." Kili said, placing a hand on her lower back to move her forward at a slightly faster pace. "How old are you?"

"Well, when I left I was eighteen. I don't know what day it is or how long I've been gone, so for all I know, I could be nineteen already."

"I didn't realize you were so young." Kili said. Emelia glanced at him, only to see a very thoughtful and confused look on his face. He seemed conflicted about something, which instantly made an odd feeling settle in her stomach.

"At least I'm legal, right?" When he made no sound of understanding, Emelia switched her focus. "I didn't realize you were old enough to be my grandfather, so we're even." Emelia was rather surprised with herself for being so relatively unalarmed at Kili's age. Perhaps it was the fact that he didn't look so old, or maybe it was the way he acted like he as younger than her most of the time, or perhaps it was that she couldn't bear to think that she was actually attracted to someone who was seventy-seven years old so she immediately thought of him as being closer to her age to cope. "Seventy-seven. Geez Kee, you're such a crotchety old man."

"Very funny, Emmy."

"Did you pack enough denture cream and oxygen for this trip?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"You could buy me alcohol." Emelia said, choosing to pointedly ignore the fact that he had no idea what she was talking about. "We could get the senior discount at Denny's."

"What are you going on about?" Kili asked, pushing her to keep moving despite the fact that she wanted to stop walking.

"I'm rambling aren't I?"

"Yes." They were close enough to be overheard by the rest of the dwarves. "I do not mind, though." She felt one of his hands slide up to her shoulder, squeezing it slightly. She expected him to remove his hand, as he usually did, but he didn't. Instead he began to tap his fingers rhythmically along her shoulder, smirking at her when she looked over her shoulder at him questioningly.

He winked at her, effectively silencing her as she suddenly forgot what she was going to say to him. She imagined, thinking back on it, that he had done that on purpose to confuse her. He knew full well that she forgot how to think most of the time when he looked at her, let alone winked at her. She imagined Kili was much cleverer than most people gave him credit for, if his dealings with her were any sort of indication.

* * *

Their first couple of days in Mirkwood were not as unpleasant as Emelia had anticipated. In fact, some might consider them downright wonderful compared to some of the other nights she had spent in the company of the dwarves. She had, for the first couple of days, been able to sleep oddly peacefully. She had curled up into a little ball, pointedly ignoring the fact that Fili was still avoiding her. She spent her nights, and most of her days, playing Mirkwood Bingo with herself. It was rather dull, but she would take dull over something exciting. Exciting things with the dwarves usually meant her life being threatened in some way or another and she had just about had her fill of that for one lifetime.

They had altogether lost the sunlight that had been previously streaming through the tree intermittently, plunging them all into moody silence that mirrored the lack of light. Dwalin seemed to be moodier than the rest, glaring at every tree he passed, growing under his breath whenever he saw signs that indicated elves. Emelia thought his blood pressure was a little high, but she buried the desire to inform him of that. She preferred to stay away from Thorin and Dwalin was practically connected to Thorin at the hip, so she avoided him by proxy.

Emelia spent her days with Kili and Bilbo, which she wasn't complaining about. Bilbo seemed to understand Emelia's need for interaction ever since Fili had stopped talking to her. Kili offered her very little insight every time she asked, resulting in her feeling even angrier at Fili. The air around them was becoming thicker and heavier as each day passed them by, making Emelia's anger at Fili even more prominent.

Emelia's initial good mood had all but evaporated by the time they reached their first obstacle.

Thorin called for a sudden halt, forcing Emelia, who had been mentally adding a pair of squirrels to her checklist, to focus her attention back on the dwarves. Now that Emelia was paying attention to something besides her own self, she was able to hear the undeniable sounds of rushing water in front of her. She peered around Bombur who was blocking her view now that Bilbo had abandoned the rear to go up and see what exactly was blocking their path.

"I don't think you're even trying at Mirkwood Bingo, Kee." Emelia said after a palpable silence. The dwarves, besides Kili, had all moved up to stand next to Thorin, ideas about how to cross what was apparently a very large river bouncing about between them.

"Maybe you're just better at it than me." Kili said from behind her, moving to stand next to her while still keeping his gaze firmly planted on the trees behind them. "Or maybe you're making the rules up as you go in order to best me."

"You'd like to think that, but no, I'm actually just kicking your as…"

"Over there! There's a boat against the far bank!"

"We'll discuss your gaming ineptitude later, Mister." Emelia said, reaching her hand down to pull Kili with her to see what Bilbo had suddenly gotten so excited about.

"How far?" Thorin asked, glancing up at the sound of Emelia and Kili joining them. Kili immediately released Emelia's hand, offering no explanation besides a slightly apologetic look.

"I don't know, twelve, maybe fifteen yards." Bilbo answered, lifting himself up off the bank to turn and look at Thorin and the rest of the dwarves.

"Twelve yards is still long enough to be a problem. Boern warned us that we should avoid entering the water, so we cannot swim it nor can any of us hope to jump the distance." Thorin sounded frustrated.

"We could throw a rope." Dwalin suggested, leaning forward ever so slightly to peer at the blackness that was Mirkwood with slight disdain.

"We could hook it and pull the boat over." Bilbo said, elaborating on Dwalin's thought.

Emelia leaned back against one of the trees, waiting for them to decide what to do. They wouldn't have listened to her opinion, despite the fact that for the first time since she had been with the dwarves, she was uniquely qualified to hook a boat with a rope. She did that sort of thing all the time back in Alaska. Kili left her, moving to stand next to his brother. Emelia watched them as they leaned towards each other, matching looks on their faces.

"The boat is more than likely tied." Thorin said, sounding worn out for the first time in Emelia's recent memory.

"I do not think so." Bilbo said, peering even harder at the opposite bank.

"Fili come here and see if you can find the boat Bilbo is talking about." Thorin said suddenly, surprising most of the dwarves. Fili seemed the most surprised. He shot Kili a questioning look as he moved hesitantly to stand next to their impatient looking uncle.

He took the rope and hook that had been fashioned by Dori, rolling his shoulders with determination. Emelia did not envy him, despite the fact that she secretly thought she could do the job better. Thorin was standing close to Fili, thick arms folded across his chest as watched his eldest nephew expectantly. Emelia watched Fili, taking note of how his back had suddenly become very tense. She could see his back muscles working as he raised his arm up over his head, swinging the rope and hook around before he let it fly across the black river.

It took him three tries before he was finally able to hook the edge of the boat. The dull thud of metal hitting wood made all of the dwarves cheer. Fili struggled to pull the boat on his own before he was helped along by Kili, Gloin, and Oin. Emelia wasn't sure what she expected, but she found herself being a little disappointed by the size of the boat that they hauled onto the bank. It looked like it could only hold three or four dwarves at the very most.

They looked at the boat for a moment before Bilbo spoke up, voicing the question that they all had floating about in their minds. "So, who will go first?"

None of the dwarves seemed overly eager to cross over into the uncharted territory on the other side. Ori even went so far as to step back from the boat, some of the color leaving his face.

"I will go first, with Bilbo, Balin and Fili." Thorin said, moving towards the boat to prep it. "Kili will follow with Oin, Gloin, and Dori."

"What about Emelia?" Kili asked, cutting across Thorin as he opened his mouth to give the next group. Emelia felt a blush creeping up onto her face as all of the dwarves turned to look at her. Some were smirking knowingly, others seemed less than impressed with Kili's out of nowhere question. Thorin merely looked annoyed.

"She will cross last with Dwalin and Bombur." Thorin said simply, effectively cutting off any room for argument. Kili looked over at Emelia. He had an odd look on his face until he realized that she wasn't nearly as alarmed as he was about being separated for five minutes.

"Why do I always have to cross last?" Bombur did not sound happy. Emelia wasn't exactly happy either about crossing with the two biggest dwarves in the company, either. She imagined they were not very graceful. She could just imagine the boat tipping over due to their girth, sending her crashing into the dark water. The last time she had been in water things hadn't ended up too well for her and she wasn't entirely eager to repeat that traumatic experience.

"Because you weigh more than two others combined." Apparently Thorin was channeling his inner mean girl. "You shouldn't be so fat if you don't want to go last." Emelia placed a hand on Bombur's shoulder, patting it sympathetically. She felt him reach up a meaty hand to pat her hand in knew, better than some, that Thorin was uniquely capable of ruining your day with a single look.

It took them another couple of moments of finagling a crude pulley system, of sorts, before they were finally ready to cross. When everything seemed ready for them, Thorin moved towards the boat, lifting himself over the side heavily, before he turned back to face the others.

"Come."

Emelia watched, surprising herself with her patience, as the dwarves made their way over to the shore. She felt a slight sense of apprehension when they got far enough away that she could no longer see them. The sounds of the forest drowned out their voices after a certain point as well, making her feel suddenly very uncomfortable. She shifted uncomfortably next to Bombur, moving closer to the bank in the hopes that she might catch a glimpse of Fili's blonde hair or Kili's smirking face. Perhaps she shouldn't have thought Kili was being silly for being separated. It was awfully creepy once it was only her, Bombur, and Dwalin.

"Come here, lass." Emelia jumped slightly at Dwalin's voice, turning around to face him. He was holding the rope attached to the boat, keeping it steady despite the current of the seemingly black river.

Emelia took a calming breath, moving towards the boat. Dwalin held the boat edge as Emelia hauled herself over, gripping the sides for dear life. She was suddenly quite ashamed of how nervous she was feeling. She was born and breed around water, and there she was nervous about a short little ride over a river. She moved towards the middle of the small boat, breathing deeply. She almost cried when she felt the weight that she knew belonged to Bombur rocking the boat. Her fingers and knuckles turned white from the force she was using to grip the side of the boat. It felt like an eternity before the boat finally stopped rocking.

"I need to pull up front." Emelia took that as her cue to move to the middle. She allowed Dwalin to shuffle around her, pointedly ignoring the horrible rocking of the boat as he did so.

As far as boat rides went, it wasn't half as bad as she expected. She was sandwiched uncomfortably between Dwalin and Bombur, but they both seemed to sense her discomfort, the latter going so far as allowing Emelia to squeeze the life out of his hand.

The ride wasn't bad, what happened after was, however.

Dwalin was safely out of the boat, in the process of pulling it onto the banks when the deer came shooting out at them from the underbrush. Emelia, being the ever observant person that she was, didn't see it. In fact, she wasn't sure what was going on at all. All she knew was that one moment she was moving towards the edge of the boat, a feeling of relief feeling her up at being on the bank, when the boat was rocked violently by Bombur. Apparently, he wasn't very observant either.

Emelia was thrown forward by the force from the momentum of Bombur's girth, her head smashing painfully into the edge of the boat as she went. In her haze she thought she heard the distinct sound of a crash in the water. The splash was deafeningly loud in the darkness. It reverberated through Emelia's chest, making odd imagines spring up in front of her eyes.

"Bombur! Grab the rope!"

Emelia attempted to stand up, only to be met with the worst case of vertigo she had ever experienced. She imagined it was due to the fact that she didn't have a clear point to focus on in all the murky blackness that invaded her vision. She didn't imagine that it was because she had a knot the size of a cumquat on the side of her head. She blinked rapidly, hands digging into the mossy dirt in an attempt to get her vision to stop spinning, if even for a moment to see what was going on with Bombur.

"He's asleep." Emelia looked up, recognizing the annoyance in Thorin's voice instantly. "And we've lost the boat." It was then that he muttered something rather foul sounding under his breath. "Where's Emelia? She isn't still in the boat is she?"

Emelia looked around her, realizing for the first time that she was in a rather large bush. She moved, kicking and elbowing, her way until she was able to make a sound loud enough for them to hear her.

"I'm here."

Thorin actually looked relieved to see her pulling herself out of the bush. She moved painfully slow until she was finally free of the brambles. She felt little cuts littering her arms and new snags in her clothes, but she found, now that she could see Bombur snoozing like a baby on the bank in front of her, that she would rather the bush than the alternative. If the water had done that to such a big dwarf, she couldn't even begin to imagine what it could have done to her.

"Is he alright?" Emelia asked, reaching up one of her hands to prod at the lump on her head out of morbid curiosity. Her mother had once told her as a child she had banged her head so hard she had had a lump 'the size of Texas' on her head. She wondered if she had beaten her own record. It felt like she had, but she didn't exactly have a protractor handy to be sure of that.

"Emmy…" Kili appeared in front of her, seemingly out of nowhere, a look of horrible concern on his face.

"Before you even say it, I'm fine Kee."

"What's on your head?" He asked, reaching a tentative hand towards her head. She had to stop herself from smacking him when he gingerly poked the knot.

"Something you shouldn't touch, you..." Emelia trailed off, realizing all of the dwarves were now watching them once again. "What?"

"Nothing, lass." Bofur smiled brightly at her, shaking his head. Emelia wasn't convinced.

"Shouldn't somebody wake up Bombur, or are you all going to sit there watching me like I just grew a second head?"

"Well, I think you might have." Kili pointed to the lump, a wicked smirk on his face.

Emelia didn't stop herself from smacking him that time.

* * *

They were out of food and Bombur wouldn't wake up, or couldn't, and Emelia was certain her head was about to explode.

Emelia had thought that dwarves kept food squirreled away like they kept weapons. They always seemed to be able to pull out a roll or a hunk of cheese on demand. She saw now, now that she was contemplating eating leaves, that she was woefully wrong. It had been three days since any of them had last eaten. It wasn't so bad for the first day or so, at least it wasn't for her seeing as how she didn't have to carry Bombur, but by the third day rolled around with nothing to eat, Emelia thought she might have been wasting away.

Kili was quick to point out that she was overreacting, but she didn't take his word for it. His stomach hadn't stopped growling for the last two days, after all.

Her head bothered her more than her stomach. The knot had lessened in size but it was no less painful to touch. Emelia did her best not to complain about it, despite the fact that she wanted nothing more than to pop Excedrin migraine and slip off to sleep for the next month and a half. While she wouldn't have minded being carried out of Mirkwood, she knew the dwarves wouldn't appreciate that. Besides, she hadn't had access to real medicine for months, so thinking about it made her head hurt even more and her mood worsen to the point that she thought she might never be in good spirits ever again.

It wasn't until the fourth day of no food that Bombur finally decided to grace them all with his consciousness once again.

Emelia paid his complaints about hunger very little attention. She had her own things to worry about. Like the fact that her stomach was shriveling up inside her, or the fact that she had sweated out all the moisture she had left, or the fact that she thought she might have been seeing things.

She knew she wasn't the only one, so she didn't share her issues with Oin. That might have been a neglect on her part, but she thought she had already bothered him enough for one lifetime. She knew she wasn't the only one when Kili spontaneously started calling her weird names, and when Bilbo started avoiding eye contact with everyone else, and when Bofur and Dori proclaimed loudly, after discovering a small pouch on the forest floor, that there were dwarves in the forest from the Blue Mountains.

At first all she saw was the back of Kili's hair making funny swirling patterns. She hadn't minded that. It was quite beautiful to look at. During the third night it had progressed to her seeing her own hands falling off her arms every time she looked at them. She was the most disturbed going into the fourth day when she started to see Eddy.

"Wait here, it'll only take me a moment to climb."

Emelia glanced around, watching with lightly hazy vision as Bilbo climbed up the tree and out of sight. They had stopped once all of the dwarves had started fighting amongst themselves. Emelia had crept over to the far side of the little rock clearing they had found themselves in, scrubbing her hands together nervously. The air around her was thick and heavy, making her already hazy mind even hazier. The shouts of the dwarves drowned out as Emelia sat in her own little world, struggling to keep calm.

" _Emmy!"_

Emelia froze, hands stopping midair as they moved to swipe some of her hair out of her face.

"No." She spoke to herself, shaking her head in a twitchy sort of manner.

" _Emmy, you have to come see all the fish!"_

"He isn't real." Emelia said, voice shaking.

" _Why are you ignoring me?"_

Emelia felt tears spring into her eyes at the pain in his voice.

" _Look at me!"_

Emelia shook her head, reaching one of her hands into her shirt involuntarily. "He isn't real. " She pressed her fingers against the jagged line of puckered skin, hissing to herself when she felt a small amount of pain. The pain helped for the briefest of moments to bring her back into reality before he started yelling at her again.

" _Stop ignoring me, Emmy."_

Emelia finally looked up, not entirely sure what she would find. She didn't expect to see Eddy, drenched in freezing water, standing in front of her. He looked so small to her, so fragile. She shook her head, pressing her hand against her chest even harder. "You aren't real. You aren't here."

" _Emmy, I'm scared."_

Against her better judgment, she decided to keep talking to him. All the other times she had seen him, it had been flashing, almost like messed up blurbs of color than danced in front of her vision before fleeing entirely. "What are you scared of?"

" _I can't breathe."_ He said, reaching one of little hands up to his throat.

"You're breathing right now, Eddy."

" _I can't. The water is so cold. I can't move, Emmy. I can't breathe."_

Emelia felt all her blood turn to ice. "N…no. I saved you. I pulled you out. You can breathe. You aren't real so you can do whatever you want. Do it with me now." She took exaggerated shaking breathes, indicating that he should follow along with her. Her eyes pricked with even more hot tears when he didn't follow her example. "Breathe."

" _Why didn't you save me?"_

Emelia stood up, moving towards him. She ignored the bickering dwarves all around her, focusing all of her attention on her brother. Or what she thought was her brother. He took three steps back from her, shaking his head.

" _You didn't save me and now you've forgotten all about me."_

He began to move away from her, shaking his head even more. His red curls, which were stuck to his head from the water, moved slightly. Emelia wanted nothing more than to pull him close to her and hug him like she had never hugged him before. Emelia scrambled after him, hand pressing even more into her chest. "Don't leave. Please." He didn't respond, merely turning around to run off into the underbrush. Emelia took off after him, not even entirely sure where she was going or what she was doing. She heard some shouts behind her, but she ignored them entirely. All she saw was Eddy's red curls running away from her.

"Emelia! Come back."

She kicked past a particularly large bush, eyes scanning for Eddy's red hair. Emelia felt her head pounding so painfully she started seeing black moving in at the edges of her vision. Tears streamed down her face, eyes burning from trying and failing to find Eddy in all the darkness.

" _You didn't save me."_

"Emelia!"

Emelia skidded to a halt in a small clearing, breathes coming out in ragged bursts. She rubbed her hand along her chest for a moment, eyes straining to see her little brother. He couldn't have gotten far. He was so tiny. Fresh sobs wracked her body, forcing her down to the ground. He was so tiny. Maybe he hadn't been saved when she had been able to pull him out of the water. She had thought, perhaps foolishly so, that he was safe and warm and alive. All of them were.

Emelia felt her eyes rolling into the back of her head when she couldn't get her breathing under control.

She wondered vaguely, briefly, if this is what it felt like to lose your mind.

" _You didn't save me."_

She felt certain she was.

"I saved you." She spoke into the dirt, crying herself into a stupor. "I saved you."

"Emelia?"

Emelia was only able to look up long to catch a glimpse of long dark hair and a straight nose, before she blacked out entirely.


	29. The Interlude and the Interloping Female

Thorin Oakenshield felt like he was fighting a losing battle. Every time he and his company managed to move forward a step in the positive direction, something caused them to fall back three steps in the opposite direction. Mirkwood was more like twenty steps, but he refused to allow himself to wallow in that sort of negativity. His companions were already in low enough spirits as it was. He wouldn't allow himself, the leader, to lose hope like the rest of them had.

Thorin eyed them all warily, taking note of how frazzled and alarmed they all looked. He did not like stopping for any length of time, but he had been forced to once they lost their path. He felt annoyance flaring up in his chest when he thought about how much time his company had spent in the forest, ambling around without a clue where to go next. They had lost their food as well, making their situation even worse. His stomach twinged horribly with hunger as he stood there, arms folded over his chest. The hobbit was taking his time climbing up the tree to find the path, leaving Thorin with nothing to do but watch his company.

Bombur was still moaning about being hungry, not that Thorin was surprised. He had thrown himself down onto the ground the moment Thorin had called them to a halt and hadn't left since. Bofur was seated next to him, whispering something that Bombur found very little mirth in. Bifur was standing above them, eyeing them both while shifting his gaze to the trees around them. Nori was leaned against one of the trees, eyes blinking rapidly. Thorin imagined he was struggling to clear his head of the haze that had settled over all of them.

It affected them all differently. Thorin was a paranoid dwarf by nature, but ever since they had stepped foot in that forest, he had seen danger stalking them every moment of every day.

Thorin shook his head, turning his gaze towards his nephews. Fili and Kili were huddled together, discussing something with vigor. He moved towards them, nodding at Dwalin as he went. Both Fili and Kili seemed surprised to see him standing there. Fili immediately stopped talking, turning to face him with a slightly guilty look on his face. Thorin narrowed his eyes instantly, not liking the matching looks of guilt on both of their faces.

"Uncle." Fili's voice was higher pitched than normal. He was more fidgety than Thorin ever remembered him being.

"Fili, Kili." Kili refused to make eye contact with Thorin, which was troubling in of itself.

"When will be moving on?" Fili asked, glancing over Thorin's shoulder. His eyes widened for a moment as he looked at something. Thorin cleared his throat. Fili's attention immediately snapped back to Thorin, a sheepish look now on his face. "Sorry, Uncle."

"When mister Baggins returns." Thorin supplied, taking note of the distracted look on his youngest nephews face. Kili wasn't even bothering to look at Thorin. His gaze was on something behind Thorin. The something caused an alarmed look to take over his face completely. He even went so far as to lean around Thorin to get a better view. Thorin did not need to follow his nephews gaze to know what he was looking at. Thorin was not a stupid man, not by any means. He was aware, painfully so, of his nephew's infatuation with the interloping female, Emelia.

Thorin felt his mood sour even further to the point that he fixed Kili with a withering glare.

"Kili."

"Who is she talking to?" Kili asked, completely oblivious to the look on Thorin's face.

Thorin, despite his initial internal displeasure, could not stop himself from looking over at the redheaded female. He had a full barrage of anger filled comments for his nephew, all of them just waiting to explode out, until he saw her sitting on the ground. She was shaking, one hand inside her shirt the other rubbing her head blearily. Her eyes were wide and full of a fear that Thorin had never seen her express before. Thorin could just barely make out the paleness of her face in the dim light of the forest.

"I'm not imagined things. I mean, she really is talking to thin air right?"

Kili moved towards Emelia, an alarmed look that matched Fili's on his face. Fili opened his mouth to say something, only to cut short when Emelia stood up suddenly.

"Don't leave. Please." Her voice was laced with pain. She pressed her hand into her chest underneath her shirt, tears streaming down her face. Thorin had never seen her look so out of sorts in all the time he had known her. Thorin expected her to collapse in on herself like she usually did when she was in pain, emotional or otherwise. That had certainly been the case when he had first spoken to her shortly after meeting her. He hadn't been sure what he was supposed to then and he certainly wasn't sure what to do now that she was talking to herself. Thorin felt an unnatural amount of sympathy for the girl suddenly. He wasn't used to feeling sympathy for anyone besides those he was closest to and it made him slightly uncomfortable.

However, Thorin felt his sympathy for her evaporate as soon as she took off running into the trees, shouting in a wounded voice as she went.

"Emelia! Come back."

Kili made to follow her only to be stopped by Thorin. He gave his nephew the most pointed look he could muster, hoping to convey his expectations of Kili and his displeasure at Emelia all with one look. "You will stay put. The last thing I need is two of you gallivanting about the forest."

Thorin was certain Emelia was sent to give him practice in being patient. He clenched up his fists for a moment before he ran after her, cursing her with all the foul words he could think of in all the languages he knew. He kept his gaze on what little red hair she had left, cursing her once again when she made it to a part of the forest that the dismal sunlight didn't touch. Her hair, which was normally a nice indicator of where she was, blended into the darkness, making it almost impossible for Thorin to find her amongst the trees.

Thorin followed the sounds of her footsteps, doing his absolute best to remember the way back to rest of his company. The sounds of the arguing amongst each other was soon lost to him; the first of many signs that troubled him. Shortly after, he lost his way entirely. He forced himself to keep following the sounds of her footsteps, anger welling up inside him with each step he took. His hunger gnawed at his stomach, adding fuel to his already outrageous amount of rage.

"Emelia!"

Her footsteps finally stopped. He recognized the familiar sound of someone skidding to a halt not too far in front of him. He pushed and kicked his way through the thick underbrush, mumbling under his breathe the whole way.

"I saved you."

Thorin didn't have the foggiest idea about who she thought she was talking to or what she was talking about. He did know that her tone of voice was something that should cause him concern, as much as he chagrined to admit it to himself.

"I saved you."

Thorin arrived at the clearing Emelia had stopped in much quicker than he anticipated. Without the frame of reference of the sun he found he was almost useless at finding his way in the dark. He imagined it was worse for Emelia, considering she was a human and not a very good one at that. Thorin was a dwarf at least and dwarves were made to live in dark caves. He walked forward, looking for her. He didn't look down and as a result almost tripped over her in the darkness. Her small body was in the middle of the clearing, smashed into the dirt in a way that would make most women cringe. Her breathing sounded labored and forced, almost as if she was forcing herself to take each breathe with all the willpower she possessed.

"Emelia?" Thorin spoke hesitantly, moving closer to her crumpled form.

He had never been very comfortable around women, even less so around crying women. Dis, his sister, only cried once and that was when she was giving birth to Kili. Thorin had heard it from outside the birthing chamber. It had set his teeth on edge. Emelia's crying was much the same.

Thorin stood in the clearing for a moment, thinking for the briefest of seconds that perhaps he should have let Kili come find her after all. He quickly pushed that thought aside. If Thorin was having trouble in the damned forest, he could only imagine how Kili would fare. Besides, he didn't exactly like the idea of purposely pushing his nephew into alone time with the female. They were already ogling each other enough with Thorin aiding them in their endeavors.

When Emelia did not acknowledge his presence Thorin began to grow worried. He moved closer to her, leaning over her body slightly to get a better look at her state. She sobbed to herself, much like Fili and Kili had when they were babes. It was the kind of sobbing that sounded like she was choking on something. He bent down, arms extending out to her. He wasn't sure how to go about this sort of thing, but he knew he couldn't leave her in her current state. He placed a hesitant hand on her shaking shoulder, turning her thin frame over to face him.

Her wide green eyes looked up at him blearily through her tears before they fluttered closed. Thorin immediately removed his hands, panicking slightly. He wasn't sure what was wrong with her and didn't have the skills or the supplies to fix it if it came down to it. He did the only thing he could think of. He pulled off his over cloak, balling it up before he placed it under head gingerly. The silence in the forest was deadening now that Emelia's sobs weren't filling up the air. They had bounced off the trees, reverberating to the point that it had sounded like a hundred Emelias crying, rather than just the bothersome one Emelia.

He looked at her for a moment, barely making out her outline in the darkness as he decided the best course of action. He looked around at all the trees, struggling to see anything that would indicate he had come from that direction. They all looked the same, which infuriated him to no end. Caves he could handle with ease. He was born and breed reading the stones. Trees, however, were about as foreign and infuriating to him as the elves that lived in them. He bent down to pick her up, thinking only about getting back to his company when he came to the horrible realization that he didn't know which way his company was.

The thought made his insides run cold.

Thorin glared down at her before depositing her back on the soft earth. He kept his cloak under her head, despite thinking she didn't really deserve it, before he sat down next to her. Normally he would fight his was back until he found something, anything, but he didn't dare do that while carrying someone. He would need the use of his arms and Emelia, thanks to her fainting spell, would deny him of that.

Thorin ran his hands over his face, resigning himself to wait, hoping that he wouldn't die of starvation, or worse, in the meantime.

* * *

The first sign that she was waking up from her sobbing induced stupor came when she stopped twitching. Thorin, who had been eyeing the trees with disdain, looked down at her. He wasn't sure how long they had been sitting in the clearing, but he knew any hope of finding his company had evaporated long ago. He glanced down at her, taking note of how much hair she had truly lost when the orcs attacked her and Ori outside of Beorn's home for a brief moment before he turned his attention back to the trees.

Thorin ignored the hunger pains in much the same way that he ignored Emelia. More often than not, he found it was easy to disregard her presence when she wasn't actively making his life harder. He had found it increasingly harder to ignore her as of late thanks in no small part to all the attention his nephews had been giving her.

He did not consider himself to be an uncaring man, not by any means. He could see that she brought them happiness on their journey, although he could not explain why, and he did not begrudge her for that. He did begrudge her the fact that she extended beyond happiness for Kili. Thorin had first thought he was merely infatuated, as most young dwarves of his age are prone to, but he found as time progressed that it wasn't quite the case. Kili talked about her even when she had nothing to do with the conversation, he watched her when he thought no one was looking, he always made sure she comfortable even when there was no comfort to be found in the wilderness.

Even if she was a dwarf, which she was obviously not, Thorin would not have approved.

There was a time and a place for those sorts of things, and Thorin hardly thought their quest was the place.

Emelia moved in her sleep, twisting herself into a position that looked painful. She pulled her legs into her chest for a moment before she extended them, almost as if she was stretching. She opened her eyes, blinking rapidly in the darkness before her gaze settled on Thorin.

"Obviously, I'm not dreaming if you're here." She said it more to herself than to Thorin. He noticed her voiced sounded oddly thick and forced, like it was painful for her to speak. "More like a bloody nightmare."

Thorin ignored her.

"Where are we?" She asked after a moment, forcing herself into a weak sitting position. Her skinny arms seemed to struggle to support her weight but she managed it all the same.

"Mirkwood." Thorin said, reaching out to retrieve his cloak. He shook it off before throwing it back around his shoulders.

"I figured that part out for myself, thanks. I mean, where is everybody else?"

"We are wherever you went during your neurotic fit." Thorin said, his voice taking a sour tone. He wondered if she had completely forgotten about the events that had happened earlier. Perhaps she had. He wished she hadn't, that way he could hold her accountable for her actions. Emelia shrank back slightly, folding her knees up so that she could place her chin on it. She brought her dirty hands up to her eyes, scrubbing at them for a long moment before she spoke in the darkness, her voice much quieter than before.

"I feel like I should apologize."

"I feel like you should as well." Thorin bit back, gritting his teeth together to keep from saying something worse.

"I have no explanation that you would understand." She said, looking away from him. He thought he saw a tear run down her cheek but he couldn't be sure. "It was stupid."

"An understatement." Thorin said, looking away from her as well.

"You're kind of an ass, you know." She said after a long moment. Thorin thought he heard her incorrectly. He turned to face her, a look of disbelief on his face. In all his years, of all the people who had insulated him, never once had a child like her done so in such a manner.

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me. You are an ass. You never seem to realize that other people have more going on in their lives beyond what you're involved in." Emelia spat, sounding as if she was gearing up to say something harsher, more honest. "I get that getting your home back is important or whatever, but you don't have to be such an insufferable ponce about it. Honestly, I have never met someone with such an ego combined with such a disregard for other people in all my life. And I'm including myself in that, because let's be honest, I only thought of myself for the vast majority of my last eighteen years. You however, you claim to be a king and all I see is the actions of a self-righteous child."

"Are you done?"

"Not even close. Gandalf told me that you took me away from Rivendell despite knowing there were people there that could help me."

"They were elves." Thorin pointed out through gritted teeth. The word twisted in his mouth, making a bitter taste rise of up in it.

"Right, they were elves and I'm a human and you're a dwarf and Bilbo's a hobbit and Gandalf is," She paused, seeming confused for a moment. "Well I don't really know what Gandalf is, but that isn't the point. The point is that they could have helped me get back to my family and you, being the obnoxious ass that you are, couldn't see past your own obnoxiously straight nose and plans."

"Emelia."

"No. I have to say this because if I don't I will just resort to taking my anger out other ways, like punching you or putting cockroaches in your food when you aren't looking and I don't think you want that." She took a deep breath, squaring her shoulders. "You have treated me like I am not even worth licking the muck off your shoes and I'm sick of it. Didn't I keep my trap shut with the Goblin King? Didn't I not tell a soul when we were in Rivendell, just like you said? I'm sick of it and I'm sick of you. How someone like you could have had a hand in raising dwarves as spectacular as Fili and Kili is beyond me."

"Are you quite finished?" Thorin asked, feeling suddenly very uncomfortable with all the insults she was throwing at him.

"Hardly. You just don't get it. You haven't bothered once to ask me why I might be scared, or sad, or lonely to the point that I want to spend time with Fili and Kili. I miss my family and you don't get that. I might not ever see them again and you can't be bothered to give a damn. You don't know me and you don't know how I am feeling every moment of every day. How would you feel if you were suddenly whisked away from Fili and Kili and you thought you would never see them again? How would you feel if you thought you would never get to see them grow up, or have kids, or get married, or whatever the hell you dwarves consider to be high points in life? How would you handle that? Not very well from what I know of you."

"I think you've said quite enough." Thorin said, cutting across her before she could say any more. Emelia was breathing heavily, a look on anger masking her gaunt and dirty face.

"Why, because you don't like a human telling you the truth? Or do you just not like the truth in general?"

"Emelia, enough." Thorin said icily. "You have made your point."

There was an uncomfortable silence that followed. Emelia was breathing heavily, pointedly looking away from Thorin. Thorin could see her shoulders heaving. Never in his life had someone spoken to him in the way she just had. He wasn't sure if he should be angry at her, or appreciative for the honestly that she had just hurled at him. Dis had said things like that to Thorin more times than he could recall, but she was his sister. Those sorts of things were to be expected. Emelia was another case entirely.

He felt shame, which was an emotion he felt very rarely, creeping up inside him as he processed her words.

"I don't know about you, but I feel better." Emelia said after a long silence. Thorin looked over at her, confusion etched all over his face."God, that felt good to say. I don't think you know how many mean things I've been bottling up."

"I think I understand." Thorin said, allowing the slightest bit of humor into his voice.

"Oh, right." She dropped her knees, placing her hands on either side of her. "I was chasing my brother, or what I thought was my brother. It's completely stupid, looking back on it, because he's in Alaska and I'm, well I'm here. With you. In the dirt. Sharing my feelings." Her voice grew more and more depressed as she babbled on. Thorin looked away, feeling the discomfort radiating off her.

"We should move on. We will surely die of starvation if we don't at least attempt to find our way back to our companions."

Thorin had purposely put in the 'our companions' in the hope that she wouldn't start yelling at him again. She still sounded angry, so he wouldn't put it past her to do so.

"I'm still not happy with you." She said, pushing herself up into a standing position as he did the same. She pulled her pack over her shoulders to make it more comfortable. "You've had months and months of assery, so…"

"I apologize." Thorin thought the words sounded forced coming out of his mouth, but he truly did mean them all the same. He still did not like Emelia very much and he disliked his nephews feelings for her even more, but he was not so proud that he could not see when he had been wrong. He seemed to more incorrect than correct as of late, if the situation with the hobbit was any indication, so he did not think Emelia was so far outside of the realm of possibility with her rants. "A king, a man, should know better than to treat a lady in such a manner regardless of her…"

"Of her humanity?" Emelia asked, smirking to herself. "I don't care that you're a dude. I don't think that has anything to do with it, because I can be a pretty big ass as well, just ask Kee."

"I'm sorry, ask who?" Thorin asked, looking around at the trees, trying to decide the best way to take.

"Kili."

Thorin looked over at her so sharply, his neck might have popped.

"And Fili, but more so Kili." Emelia seemed oblivious to the look on Thorin's face. He opened his mouth to say something, only to close it again. He knew what battles were worth fighting and which ones were not. He would wait to see if the situation progressed before he spoke to her about it. He had already told his nephews to stay away from her, but that might have selfish on his part. He had a line of succession to maintain, and he certainly didn't think Emelia would fit into that. He had been proved wrong before though, so he chose to keep his thoughts to himself. He could have been over thinking the entire situation. It was possible that Emelia might not even feel that way about either of his nephews in the first place.

"We will go this way, unless you have an argument about that as well?" Thorin said, pointing towards the trees to his left. It looked less ominous and dark that way, which was promising.

"Is there food that way?" Emelia asked, hitching her pack up on her shoulders with a look of misery on her face. "I think my stomach might have shriveled up. I could eat a whole cow right now. Or thirty hamburgers. Or fifty pizzas." Her voice had taken a morose tone.

"Thinking about food will make you more hungry."

"Being hungry makes me hungry."

* * *

They walked, Emelia behind Thorin, for what felt like days. They stopped intermittently to allow Thorin to check their path, their depression growing when they saw no signs of their companions. Emelia's stomach had stopped growling long ago, having reached the point of hunger where it all blurred together. She imagined passing out and not waking up was the next step.

"I used to be overweight." Emelia said to Thorin's back, blinking blearily. "I used to want my bones to stick out. What an awful thought. How could I think that?" Emelia ran her hand along her hip, wincing to herself at the sharpness of it.

"Women often have odd notions about their bodies." Thorin said, not realizing that what he said could be perceived as rude.

"I wish I was overweight right now. Being well-fed seems like such a luxury. How can people want to be skin and bones when they have all the food in the world while people who have no food want nothing more than to be round in places besides their head?"

Thorin allowed her to talk to herself, thinking it best not to interrupt.

"Maybe we could eat leaves."

Thorin had to interrupt that thought, despite his resolve not to. "No. It would make us sicker than we already are."

"The bark then." Emelia said, stumbling slightly behind him. "Or the squirrels, if we could catch some. I could try squeaking at them to draw them in, and then you could go for the kill." She made a noise that Thorin imagined the thought sounded like a squirrel. It was possibly the most pathetic noise he had ever heard, but he allowed her to continue.

"The only thing that noise will accomplish is scaring them off." Thorin said over his shoulder, amused at the noise she made in response.

"Is this what hell is like?" Emelia asked, more to herself. "Walking through a forest with King Sassafras himself, starving to death."

Thorin kept walking, pushing through the trees aside to make it easier for her to walk through. She hardly noticed, what with her talking to herself, but Thorin still pushed forward. His own hunger was gnawing at him, making him weaker with each step he took but he didn't allow himself to wallow in it like Emelia did. It would be a truly miserable experience if they both wailed about their stomach pains for all the owners of the eyes to hear.

It was miserable regardless, but Thorin had no desire to add to that.

They walked on for, by Thorin's estimate, another six hours before he saw a light. At first he thought he was imagining it. It was hardly recognizable in all the darkness. He wouldn't have put it out of the realm of possibilities that his own hunger induced borderline delirium was affecting him more than he thought. He didn't tell Emelia about it for a while, choosing instead to keep walking towards it in the hopes that it would turn out to be more real than not. He was able to keep her in the dark, metaphorically and literally speaking, only for a few moments longer before she too noticed the light.

"Is that a light?" She asked, not really believing it. She peeked out from behind him, her voice taking on a reluctant excitement in spite of her disbelief. "Please tell me I'm not seeing things."

"If you are, then so am I." Thorin responded, moving forward quickly. He paused only long enough to see if she was keeping up with him before moving onwards.

"Maybe it's the rest of the company." Emelia said, stumbling slightly as she moved with him through the underbrush. "It feels like we haven't seen them in ages."

It very well might have, for all Thorin knew. Time passed so differently in the forest, he could no loner keep up with it.

The light was getting bigger and bigger as they rushed towards it. Thorin could feel his mouth watering more and more with each step he took. His hunger was the worst he had ever experienced. It felt like he was dying. Both to them tripped as they moved, neither of them caring about where they were stepping. Thorin knew the light was not a mirage. It was getting bigger and brighter and more inviting and more wonderful. He could practically smell the food that he was hoping would be there.

"Maybe they'll have enchiladas." Emelia said behind him. "Maybe it'll be a chocolate fountain."

It only took them moments longer to reach the source of the light. They threw themselves in the clearing it was coming from, eyes scanning around for something to eat. They were distracted for a moment, searching for what they craved. Neither of them noticed the people who were making the light, or the looks of disgust on their faces, or the weapons that were being brandished at them instantly. Thorin registered who they were before Emelia did, although it only took her a moment longer.

"Or maybe it'll be elves." Emelia said, not sounding as upset that Thorin would have hoped for. He imagined she didn't have a reason to be upset by the sight of a group of wood elves.

For his part, he couldn't have imagined anything worse.

"Bollocks."


	30. Two Kings too Many

"Bollocks." Thorin immediately grabbed Emelia by the shoulders and hauled her backwards. Her arms flailed out involuntarily. His fingers dug into her boney shoulders, but he didn't seem to notice or care. She tried to look at him while simultaneously keeping her gaze on the elves that were advancing towards them. He wrenched her close enough to whisper harshly into her ear, speaking almost too quickly for her to understand. "Whatever happens, do not…"

"Tell them about Erebor." Emelia whispered back, feeling panic welling up inside as the elves got closer. They were moving faster than she would have thought possible, faces oddly haunting in the dim light from their torches.

"Well yes, but more importantly, do what you can to stay in their graces."

Emelia was acutely aware that Thorin had very little time to explain, but she couldn't stop herself from asking for clarification anyways. "What?"

"It would not bode well if we were to both be chained and locked up, as is likely to happen to me."

"I don't kno…"

"Drop your weapon, dwarf." Emelia felt Thorin step back from her, releasing her shoulders roughly. She made to follow him, feeling instantly panicky at the sight of all the weapons being pointed at her, before she stopped herself. He had said to stay in their good graces and stay in their good graces she would.

Whatever the hell that meant.

Her hands dropped down to her shirt, finger playing with the frayed edges of her shirt. She looked down for a moment, resolving herself to be braver than she normally was, to be smarter, to be better. When she looked back up, she almost forgot that entirely. She went slightly cross-eyed as one of the elves shoved an arrow dangerously close to her face.

She tried to move backwards, only to be stopped by Thorin's body blocking her way.

"Now, dwarf, unless you would prefer to give me a reason to kill you where you stand."

And she thought Thorin was sassy.

After a silence that Emelia was sure lasted forever, she heard the sound of Thorin dropping his sword to the ground. She let out a breath she didn't realize she had been holding. Maybe they would be favorable to him once they saw that Emelia and Thorin weren't being outwardly hostile. Well, Emelia wasn't. Thorin's default emotion was hostility, so she didn't think there was much that could be done to keep the elves from noticing that. The elf with the arrow in her face still didn't lower it. In fact, he moved it closer, if that was possible. If she moved forward even an inch her face would be skewered. She couldn't bring herself to look away from the arrow tip, hands working at the end of her shirt more feverishly.

"You are in the Woodland Realm, speak your purpose." Emelia heard Thorin shuffled behind her, a deep sound of anger rumbling through his chest. Her eyes fluttered shut as she waited for the undoubtedly rude thing he was going to say.

"I am a merchant. I was a simply passing through and lost my way." Emelia could tell it was taking all of the self-control Thorin had to keep his tone relatively civil. She cracked open one eye reluctantly, peeking out around the arrow ever so slightly.

"Dwarves do not simply pass through. I suggest you start telling the truth."

The elf who was addressing Thorin was almost too attractive to look at. He was the only one with blonde hair and bright blue eyes, making him stand out amongst the numerous elves with reddish brown hair and darker eyes. He had a jaw line that looked like it could cut glass. Even his glare was attractive. He motioned with a jerk of his head to his side. Emelia, having found herself distracted, didn't even notice the elf had lowered his bow and arrow away from her face. There was the sound of great shuffling behind her, followed by even more curses from Thorin, before they were thrown into awkward silence.

Emelia was finally shaken out of her reverie when she heard the sound of what she knew to be metal cuffs snapping shut. She immediately turned around, looking at Thorin with alarm. He was flanked by two elves, one holding the chain that was attached to his wrist, the other busily removing all of the weapons in Thorin's possession. They were both looking down at Thorin with disdain and Thorin was gladly returning the favor. She looked at him for a moment longer before the blonde spoke again, pulling her attention away from Thorin.

"Who are you? You do not look like a she-dwarf." The blonde elf said, narrowing his eyes slightly as he took in her appearance. Emelia felt her face turn red under his scrutiny. She reached her hand up subconsciously, messing with the ends of her ratty hair.

"Emelia…" He voice squeaked horribly, causing some of the elves to raise their eyebrows at her. Emelia felt her embarrassment mounting. She cleared her throat, feeling Thorin's gaze on her back as she did so. "Emelia Montgomery. Emelia Kinsington Montgomery. Emelia. You can call me just Emelia." She finished lamely, wanting nothing more than to crawl under a rock.

"You are not a dwarf." The blonde said, eyeing her facial features.

"Erm, no." Emelia said, thinking it best not to lie. "You would think people would recognize a human when they saw one." She said the last part before she realized it might have been a little rude. "Sorry. That was snarkier than I meant it to be. I human, I mean, I'm a human." She finished with an uncomfortable laugh, feeling very much like she was oozing embarrassment. All of the elves had to feel it by that point.

"Human. And why would a human be traveling with a dwarf? I cannot fathom it would be by choice."

"It's a long story, and it's kind of complicated. I'd be happy to tell you over a nice meal." Emelia imagined it would be better if she stopped talking altogether, considering what was coming out of her mouth. "Oh god, I promise I'm not asking you out. Not to say I wouldn't want to go out with you, because you're absolutely dreamy. Shit, I'm sorry. No. Not dreamy, well you are but..." Emelia brought her hands up to her face, feeling the heat from her cheeks. "I'm just really hungry. I haven't eaten in like four days and I think I might be going slightly delirious."

The blonde waited to see if she was going to babble anymore before he spoke, addressing Thorin instead of her. "The barbaric nature of dwarves never ceases to amaze me. Would you care to enlighten me, dwarf."

"Do I need to make it simpler for you to understand, elf? We lost our way."

Emelia wished she had been able to do the talking. Even all of her embarrassing babbling was better than anything Thorin was likely to say. At least she liked elves. She had been told she could be slightly charming on a good day. Well, more charming than Thorin Oakenshield, that is. She cringed to herself, mind immediately setting to work to think about how to get her and Thorin out of their current predicament. He was already in handcuffs, so things were already not going as well as she would have liked.

"And kidnapping the female, was that before or after you decided to trespass in our realm?" Kidnapping seemed a little harsh, while not technically untrue.

"Emelia." Emelia mumbled that part more to herself than anyone else.

"What is your name, elf?" Thorin sounded like he wanted to murder something.

"Mind your tone." The blonde elf spat, moving towards both Thorin and Emelia. "Bind his mouth and cover his eyes."

Emelia stood in her spot, not entirely sure what she was supposed to do. None of the elves moved to bind her hands or mouth. In fact, the only one who paid her any sort of attention was the blonde. He moved closer to her, eyes narrowed slightly. She had managed to pick up on the fact that dwarves didn't like elves and elves certainly didn't like dwarves. She was a human and she wasn't exactly sure how humans fit into that complicated sort of relationship. Emelia didn't imagine it would be a good idea to try and get in the middle of the elves and Thorin, but she also didn't think doing nothing would be the best idea either. She had just finished insulting him and if she did nothing, he would be well within reason to return the favor.

"Sorry, but what's going on?" Emelia asked finally, watching as they put a gag in Thorin's mouth. He tried to fight them, but couldn't do much with his hands chained. "I-I mean, can't we all talk this out? You know, peaceful negotiations. U.N style. I'll be Switzerland. It'll be great."

"Blindfold her as well, and chain her hands until we are sure of her involvement."

Emelia stepped back as soon as she saw the chains, shaking her head violently. "Please, no." She raised her arms in front of her, hands shaking. "I don't want any chains." She was reminded, rather vividly, of the trolls. They had used chains on her as well. She had never had a negative experience with chains prior to coming, resulting in being rather passive towards them. She knew she hated them now, however. She still had calloused sores on her wrists and ankles from the last time.

She was able to take only two steps backwards before she was grabbed by a pair of elves and handcuffed. The metal was bitingly cold against her dirty skin. Her body froze slightly, from fear or panic she wasn't sure.

She caught one last glimpse of the blonde before she was blindfolded as well, throwing her into even more darkness than before.

* * *

The elf that was holding her chains was very polite, Emelia was surprised to discover. He, or she, held them loosely, choosing instead to guide her with a gentle hand on her shoulder. They were far nicer to her than they were to Thorin. Even with his gag, he was giving them hell. The elf guiding her would pause every once and a while to lift her over an obstacle, which was slightly awkward and weird. She didn't complain, however, based simply on the idea that they would start treating her like they were treating Thorin.

The walk did give her ample time to think about, well, everything. She thought about the trolls, which disappointed her. She hadn't thought about them in so long, she had almost thought she was getting over them. Kili had helped. He was what she thought about second. She hoped he wasn't starving to death like she was. She hoped that he and the rest of the dwarves and Bilbo had somehow managed to find a way out of Mirkwood. The thought of him lying in the dirt made her eyes sting underneath her blindfold and her head hurt worse than ever. She thought about Fili third. Last time she had talked to him, he was still being odd. If he died, she wouldn't get to tell him that she definitely thought he was achieving best friend status. Like real best friends. For life.

The elf leading her lifted her up once again, carrying her for longer than normal. Her arms swung down, knocking into the elf's back. She allowed her head to rest against the elf's startlingly muscular back. All of the excitement had exhausted her. The elf kept carrying her while the temperature around them changed suddenly. She felt goose bumps spring up on her skinny arms for the first time since she had left Alaska, making her feel both nervous and comforted. It was an odd feeling that she found she couldn't process without first having a proper meal.

"Open the gates." She knew that was the blonde. "Send for the king."

She wasn't sure why, but she was of the opinion that this place had too many kings for its own good.

Emelia was finally set down after another awkwardly long walk. She shifted her feet, subconsciously scooted closer to where she hoped Thorin was. She did not like the situation they were in and she liked the way things were turning out even less. She reached up her chained hands to her face, attempting to remove her blindfold. She was stopped by a hand on her forearms, however. The hand forced her hands back down to their position in front of her stomach, lingering for a moment to see if she would try it again.

"What do we have here?" The voice was smoother than silk and smarmier than a used car salesman. "A dwarf and a…" A pause, longer than Emelia would have liked. "And a malnourished human."

"The dwarf and his captive were skulking about near our hunting encampment. They showed up just as we were about to start our feast."

Thorin struggled again.

It was silent for a moment. Emelia shifted on her feet, wishing something would break the uncomfortable silence. She wished it until her stomach let out the most horrific growl of hunger she had ever had the misfortune of hearing in her entire life.

"Remove her blindfold."

Soft hands worked at the tie on the back of her head, before the dark fabric was replaced with a warm light. Emelia blinked for a moment, looking around at her surroundings before she turned her gaze onto the elf, or king rather, who had been speaking.

She was visually assaulted, once again, by yet another supremely attractive being. He had blonde hair as well and eyebrows that most women would kill for. They were perfectly shaped, highlighting his intensely blue eyes and straight nose. This attractive one was a king, apparently, which made Emelia instantly feel even more like a dirty cave cricket.

"What is your name?" The elf king moved closer to her, bending down slightly to address her at a more even level. It was odd looking, considering he was about two feet taller than her without the crown. With the crown he might as well be a giant. The crown was a peculiar thing, what with its branches and little bulbs of a substance she could even begin to identify. She would have said berries, but last she had checked, berries didn't emit a soft glow.

"Emelia Kinsington Montgomery." The blonde elf that had captured them in the woods provided, eyeing her from where he was standing. He was next to a female elf who was slightly shorter than him and about as attractive. Emelia immediately wished she still had more hair, now that she got a look at the red hair the female elf was sporting. Her hands twitched, attempting to move in the direction of her hair before they were stopped by the chains.

"Emelia Kinsington Montgomery." The king said name in a curious tone, taking in her attire and state. "You look positively dreadful."

Emelia looked down at herself, observing of the odd stains on her clothes. Her boots were caked in dirt and grime and her pants were practically falling off her body. She looked at her hands, taking note of dirt covering her boney fingers and wrists. They looked positively disgusting. She knew her hair and face were worse. She didn't even want to start of the state of her chest area. All in all, she thought the unfairly attractive king was correct in his assessment of her.

"Not my best, I do have to say."

"Perhaps you would like to enlighten me in regards to this current predicament." He did not phrase it as a question.

"Oh, lack of soap and an unfortunate hair cut isn't really doing much for me. I swear I don't normally look like an ugly extra from Oliver Twist."

"I am not referring to your…" He looked her up and down, lip curling slightly as he focused on her boots. "Personal state."

Emelia blushed, glancing over at Thorin. He was glaring at her, or the situation; she honestly wasn't sure which. She looked at him for a moment longer before she turned back to address the other king in the room. "It is a really long story."

"I have nothing but time."

Emelia wished he had said for her to be allowed to eat something before she was forced to tell her story. She needed to think of the best way around the whole Erebor situation. It was harder than she would have thought, considering Erebor was kind of the whole reason she was with them in the first place. She glanced at Thorin once again, rubbing her hands together in front of her stomach. His eyes were narrowed into slits, jaw working furiously despite the gag.

"It seems the dwarf is making her nervous. Take him to one of our isolation cells and feed him. I will have words with him later. Perhaps then he will be inclined to tell the truth."

The elf king waved with a simple flick of his wrist, not even bothering to look over at Thorin. Emelia could do nothing but stand there, hands chained and stomach aching, as they dragged Thorin away. He managed to kick one of the elves, which caused him to receive a rather swift smack to the back of the head. Emelia leaned her head to the side, watching him until she could no longer see him. She felt she should have said more, but she wasn't sure what she was supposed to say.

"Now that that is taken care of, where were we?"

Emelia kept her gaze on the spot Thorin had just been in, apprehension filling her up. Now that he was gone, she had no one. Thorin wasn't fond of her most of the time, but he was still a dwarf, he was still one of her dwarves. The thought of being without them scared her. She hadn't been without them for months and now that she was fully alone she found she didn't like it at all, as much as that surprised her. She could feel the elf king watching her, but she paid him very little attention. She was feeling the beginnings of a panic attack creeping up on her, starting from her stomach and blooming outwards. She felt she was pro at recognizing it by that point, considering she had had more in the last couple of months than in her entire life combined.

"Emelia, was it?" Emelia finally tore her gaze away from the spot, turning to face the elf king. He was peering down at her with interest, one eyebrow quirked up ever so slightly.

"Y-yes." Emelia felt very small being surrounded by the elves. They were all looking down at her, judging her, sizing her up. She noticed the woman seemed the most curious. She was leaning forward slightly, a wondering expression on her pretty face. "My name is Emelia Kinsington Montgomery."

"A very peculiar name." He moved closer until he was practically standing above her. "I am King Thranduil of the Woodland Realm."

"That's a peculiar name, too." Emelia said, not entirely sure why she was so verbose as of late.

Thranduil gazed at her for a moment, eyes trailing to her hair. Emelia noticed he did not seem impressed with the scraggly ends. She didn't blame him, his hair was fabulous. "I am curious about what has happened to you to put you into such a state of disarray."

"Everything. Literally everything you can think of." Emelia reached up her pointer finger, itching underneath the metal cuff.

"Danonril, remove her cuffs." Emelia had hoped they would pick up on her signals.

A brown haired elf bent down in front of Emelia, removing her cuffs. She noticed he didn't make eye contact with her and his nose twisted up with disgust when he moved closer to her. He made her miss the dwarves even more. They had never said anything about how bad she smelled. Kili had said something once, when they had first met, but she didn't really count that time. He didn't know her and she didn't know him. She was quite certain anything either of them had said during that time was officially null and void. She rubbed her wrists, forcing her attention back onto the elves. She blamed her hunger for her wandering mind, but part of her knew that that wasn't the whole reason. Kili son of Mirwi probably had a lot more to do with it than she cared to acknowledge.

"Elaborate, if you will."

"Well," Emelia glanced around, stalling for a moment. "I guess it started with some trolls and," She paused again, remembering what Thorin had told her. "And an unfortunate encounter of the dwarvish variety."

"Unfortunate." Thranduil repeated. There was something about the way his face didn't move when he talked that gave Emelia the creeps. He also liked to stare a lot, which made her even more uncomfortable. "Legolas." He spoke suddenly, startling Emelia. "Where did you find our charming guest?"

"She was with the dwarf."

The blonde that had captured her and Thorin spoke up, moving away from the pretty red-headed female. She wondered if she would ever encounter someone with a normal name again. Like Charles. Or James. Or Peter. Or anything besides the ridiculousness that was Legolas, Thranduil, and Danonril. Thranduil looked at the blonde, Legolas for a moment before he turned back to Emelia suddenly, causing her to jump once again.

"Did the dwarf cause you such injuries?" Thranduil asked, the concern in his voice not quite reaching his face.

"Directly, no. Indirectly, yes."

"Clarify."

"Well he didn't beat me."

"A comforting thought."

"But he did kind of drag me all about creation, being a general curmudgeon the entire time." Emelia felt rather terrible talking about Thorin in such a manner. While she wasn't lying, she still wouldn't have put her journey with the dwarves in such absolute terms. It was much more complicated.

"There is no need to thank us for freeing you of such monstrous conditions." Emelia wasn't going to, but she let him think she would have anyway. "I am sure you will repay us in time."

Emelia shrunk slightly, thinking of all the ways the elf king would make her repay them. None of them seemed particularly appealing to her. She shifted on her feet, looking around the grand area she was in as a way of avoiding looking at Thranduil directly. It was an odd place, strictly speaking. It looked like it was made up of vein like things, like giant tree roots that had rooms and hallways built into them. She could faintly see walkways up at the top of the dimly lit room. Elves were peering down at her from little causeways and pockets. They looked like hulking shapes in the poor lighting, making Emelia sink in on herself even more. She thought elves would make her happy, like they had the first time, but so far all she had felt was fear and anxiety. If the hall or the king was any indication, she wouldn't stop feeling that way any time soon.

"Now, you must be exhausted. I welcome you, Emelia, to the halls of the Woodland Realm. I wish to speak to you more about the events that transpired to bring you to us, but I think I will excuse you for a bath and a little something to eat."

More than a little something would do her better, she thought.

"Thank you." She stuttered over her words, hoping her apprehension didn't show in her voice.

"Tauriel will be your guard, for the time being."

Emelia got the sudden and very distinct impression, seeing the red-headed elf moving towards her armed to the teeth, that she wasn't as welcome as Thranduil had just said.

Emelia knew, without them needing to say it, that she was just as much a prisoner as Thorin.

* * *

"How could you be so mean?" Wenny sounded truly horrified. She looked up over her completely forgotten bowl of food, glaring at both her father and grandfather. Legolas, who had been whispering something in Alunim's ear, looked at his daughter with surprise.

"I was not being mean." He said, sounding indignant. "It was a different time, Liluwen."

"They were starving!" Gimli could not deny the little bit of pride he felt to know that Wenny was taking what he said as truth.

"And we fed them." Legolas responded, trying, and failing, to change Wenny's mind. Her lips pursed, an even more unimpressed look twisting her pale face.

"Perhaps I should clarify." Thranduil extended his arms out, gesturing to Wenny. She immediately jumped down from her chair and bounded over to him. She threw herself into his arms, laughing when he wrapped the long limbs securely around her. "We will let your Ada spend some uninterrupted time with his friend while you and I go for a walk."

Gimli watched the oldest elf for a moment, feeling slightly uncomfortable. He knew Thranduil was a proud king and an even prouder man and Gimli had never taken him to be the sort to show affection. He had been surprised when he had first arrived in the Woodland Realm to see him so willingly affectionate with his granddaughter. It was hard for Gimli to see the man his father described in the king currently holding Wenny. He had always imagined a brutal, cold, uncaring man with little concern for anyone beyond himself. His father had told him truly terrible things and Gimli couldn't quite get those notions out of his mind, regardless of how Thranduil acted.

"Wait, do you know about Kili?" Wenny asked, leaning back in Thranduil's lap to look up at him. "Because I have to know what happened with him and the other dwarves. I might die if I don't."

"A facetious fallacy, Liluwen."

"He isn't dead, is he?" Wenny asked. She peered around to Gimli, a look of horror on her face.

Gimli debated for a moment, thinking how best to phrase it. "No. He isn't dead in the forest, and neither are any of the other dwarves for that matter."

"Good. I don't think I would want to finish this story if he died." Wenny admitted, vaulting herself off her grandfather's lap. "They all have to end up happy. That's what happens."

"Not all the time, it doesn't." Gimli said simply, catching Alunim's eye. She shook her head, facial expression fierce."But I'm getting ahead of myself. Go enjoy your walk and we will resume when you return."


	31. Bravery, Or Lack Thereof

Emelia did not like Tauriel. The elf that was leading her away from Thranduil hadn't technically spoken to her, but that didn't stop Emelia from instantly disliking her for being so undeniably perfect all the same. Emelia watched her prefect red hair swinging along her perfectly postured back with her face scrunched up. Tauriel made no noise as she walked through the halls, nodding to some of the elves as she passed them by. Emelia stomped like an elephant.

Her stomach, seeming to realize that food was near, growled louder and louder as the two of them walked along in silence.

Emelia was surprised she was allowed to walk around without handcuffs. Perhaps the elves thought she wasn't much of a threat. She imagined that perhaps they were right. They had taken all of the sharp things in her possession, which included the knife Fili and Kili had given her, leaving her with nothing but her travel bag from Beorn. They had riffled through that too but Emelia had been too preoccupied with them taking the only things she had to protect herself with. She was still cussing them out in her head.

Tauriel turned suddenly, forcing Emelia to refocus on her obnoxiously red hair.

"Would you prefer to eat first or bathe first?" Tauriel spoke softly, not looking over her shoulder. Emelia glared even harder. Even her voice was perfect.

"I want to eat." Emelia said, not able to keep her bitterness out of her voice. She hoped they had like a whole cow for her to eat or something of similar size because that's what it felt like her stomach was demanding.

They didn't. They had one single plate of salad and a couple of rolls for her set on a tray in the most miserably bland room Emelia had ever seen. The walls were matte beige that looked like it belonged on the walls of a hospital. The bed was small, sporting only two pillows and a thin blanket despite the chilliness of the halls Tauriel led her in, holding open the door for Emelia without smiling. Emelia stared at the plate feeling even more annoyance welling up inside her. She suddenly understood why the dwarves hated elf food, and elves for that matter, so much. Was a steak too much to ask for?

"The maids will come to help you with your bath when you finish eating." Tauriel said, moving towards the door. She was looking at Emelia with an odd look on her face. Her eyes paused on the knot on the side of Emelia head for a brief moment. "I will be right outside the door, so it would be unwise to try and escape."

Emelia hadn't even thought about it, but now she knew it wouldn't be possible, her heart sunk that much further. She nodded her head slowly, moving closer to the salad. "Sure. I wasn't going to, but sure."

Tauriel left the room without another word.

Emelia waited approximately two milliseconds before she attacked the salad. She chose to forgo the fork and knife they had provided, opting instead to shovel it into her face with her hands. It was not the most dignified, but Emelia couldn't be bothered to care. The food physically hurt her stomach, making her feel painfully tight. She didn't chew, which caused a few coughing instances, and only paused to wash it down with a few swigs of what she instantly knew to be wine. Strong wine, apparently. She felt the effects almost instantly, which caused her to set it aside without touching it again. She finished off her meal by shoving the entire roll into her mouth. Her throat was sore and her jaw ached, but she ignored that as she swallowed the last bit of food thickly.

She still felt hungry, but she found she was so used to the feeling that it didn't bother her as much as the starvation had.

The maids came in after she had finished, clearing away the clean plates and half-drunk wine. They didn't speak to her either, not that Emelia wanted them to. They ignored Emelia's less than impressed looks when they removed all of her clothes and took them with them. She snarled, involuntarily, when they tried to take away her boots. She wasn't aware she was capable of snarling. They took the hint and left the boots by the foot of the bed.

Her bath, which was something she had been secretly looking forward, was uncomfortable, at best. The maids made her undress in front of them. Emelia wasn't exactly proud of the way she looked and the judging glances she got made her feel even worse. They looked at each of her wounds for longer than would be considered polite. Emelia's hands dropped down to cover her crotch area involuntarily, feeling very violated under the scrutiny of the maids. The elves in Rivendell had been so polite about her self-consciousness. These elves seemed more inclined to judge her than anything.

The water was nice, despite being lukewarm. She, much to her own embarrassment, scooped up a fair amount of the bath water to drink. It was too tempting, all clean and such, especially since the elves had only given her wine to drink. She gulped it down, ignoring the soapy taste, until she made herself slightly sick. She had never thought water could be so nice. The maids even left her alone for a bit, which was also nice. She was finally able to scrub all of the dirt and grime off her body. She was careful around her chest wound, which was still raw. She wondered, briefly, if that was something she should be concerned about. She pushed that thought aside when her hands got around to washing her hair. It, having been weighed down by all the filth, bounced around, brushing the tops of shoulders softly. She knew it would still be less perfect that Tauriel's hair. The thought set her teeth on edge.

The water was a murky brown by the time she heaved herself out of it. The maids had laid out a very simple mud colored dress. Emelia slipped it on, instantly feeling like she was wearing a tent.

She looked around the room for a moment, feeling the reality of her situation sinking in. The closest person she knew was Thorin and he could be miles away from her, for all she knew. The other dwarves and Bilbo might be dying, or dead, and there was nothing she could do about it. There was nothing she could do at all. She threw herself onto the lumpy bed, her dress tangling itself around her legs as she went. As exhausted as she was, she knew she would get very little sleep. Her mind was too preoccupied with morbid thoughts for sleep.

* * *

Emelia had only slept for four or five hours in the last three days.

She had, in all her time spent thinking, come to realize a few things about these elves. Firstly, they were creatures of habit. This was evidenced by her daily meals. Breakfast was rolls and honeyed butter, Lunch was a salad, unfortunately, and dinner was seasoned chicken with a few potatoes. Not the worst, but certainly not the best. She was mostly happy they gave her some protein, so she didn't complain too much. The second thing she noticed about the elves was that they were very suspicious. Whenever she needed to go to the bathroom, which was very rare, she was escorted by not only a maid, but a pair of armed guards as well. It wasn't as if she could do much in her XXXXL dress. The third thing she noticed was they didn't seem too terribly inclined to engage in conversation with her. The maids never spoke, and the guards only gave her one or two word answers when she asked.

Emelia pulled her legs up to her chest, eyeing the soggy roll from her breakfast with disinterest. She knew she should eat it, if not for taste than for putting a little weight back on, but she couldn't bring herself to do it. The thought made her nauseous.

During her second day, to keep her mind off all of her morbid imaginations, she had taken to sorting out in her belongings in the bag Beorn had lent her. She had almost cried with joy when she saw a little pot of honey tucked away in some spare bandages. That man, as weird as he was, certainly knew how to surprise a girl. She didn't know why it was there, but she knew it was a good thing. She did feel rather foolish for not noticing it sooner, what with the company's almost starvation. It took all her willpower not to eat it, her thinking being that she might be able to get it to Thorin, if she was lucky.

Besides, the thought of more honey made her stomach churn. She stuffed in it her bra, hoping to avoid the elves confiscating it for some looney reason or another.

She leaned back against the cold wall behind her, squeezing her pillow to her stomach with her legs. She had been thinking, in the time that she should have been sleeping, about how long her and Thorin were going to be stuck here. The king hadn't spoken to her again and she had not heard anything about what sort of trouble Thorin was in, which increased her anxiety. She wondered if they were feeding him well, a thought that instantly made her feel bad about not to wanting to eat her breakfast. She couldn't ask anyone, considering they thought Thorin had kidnapped her. It was one of the many reasons she felt bad about lying. Thorin had intended for her to do something, not sit in her room and whinge about soggy rolls.

She was interrupted from her thoughts by her door swinging open. She instantly drew her pillow closer to her chest. Tauriel arched her eyebrow at the motion, carefully closing the door behind her with a soft snap.

Emelia could feel the awkwardness floating around the room as the two of them eyed each other.

"Hi?" Emelia finally spoke, unable to stop herself.

"Hello." Tauriel moved further into the room. "May I sit?" She pointed to the small chair in the corner of the room. Emelia nodded, knowing her mouth was hanging open. Tauriel sat down, fixing her gaze on Emelia. She stared at Emelia for a moment, eyes raking over her features. She had a calculating look on her face, which caused Emelia to fortify her already substantial guard even more. "You are well, yes?"

"I'm fine." Emelia was confused. Tauriel hadn't been back since the first day. She didn't have the foggiest idea why she was suddenly insisting on chitchatting.

"You are wondering why I am here."

"Bingo." Tauriel scrunched up her small nose in confusion. "Yes, it means yes." Emelia clarified, finding Tauriel's lack of knowledge about earth sayings less charming than if it had been someone else, someone more dwarvish.

"Bingo." Tauriel tested the word out, smiling slightly as she did so. "That is a ludicrous word."

"Yea, well tell that to a certain farmer." Emelia wished she would leave. She didn't like the knives she had strapped to her person and she especially did not like the suspicious looks she was getting from the redheaded elf.

"I know no farmer who would be interested." Tauriel seemed to lose interest in their conversation suddenly. The look of genuine curiosity slid off her face to be replaced by a much more stern, much more distrusting look, as if she suddenly remembered why she was there. "I do not believe you."

Emelia blinked rapidly, hoping to keep a straight face. "About what?"

"I saw what happened in the forest, with that dwarf." She spat the word like it made a disgusting taste spring up in her mouth. "I saw him speaking to you before you were apprehended."

"He was saying mean things, nothing more." Emelia lied, hoping that at some point it would become easier. "He's kind of a bully. You know spit in your pudding, connoisseur of the atomic wedgie kind of guy." She wasn't sure where she was going, but she did realize that, for once, she was truly lying about Thorin. It felt weird considering for the vast majority of the time they had known each other, the insults about him had come easy. She shifted in her spot, looking away from Tauriel. "Look, I'm the one who shouldn't trust you, not the other way around. I'm about as dangerous as a cotton ball."

"Be that as it may, if you should attempt to harm this kingdom in any manner, I will see to it personally."

Emelia knew rolling her eyes wouldn't be the best response to an outright threat to her life. "You're a real ray of sunshine, you know that?"

"Many are fond of my personality." Tauriel said, not quite understand Emelia.

"I'm sure." Emelia was tired of talking to Tauriel, almost as much as she was tired of looking at her.

"You should have care with your words. You are a guest here and once you overstay your welcome, as I am sure you will, I will…"

"Captain." Tauriel was interrupted mid-sentence by a tall elf in the doorway to Emelia's room. He was dressed in what she thought looked like hunting clothes, holding a bow in his right hand. Emelia noticed the quiver of arrows slung over his wide shoulders along with a slender sword that looked intimidatingly sharp. "Scouts are reporting more spiders within our borders."

Tauriel stood up immediately. She pushed the chair she had been sitting back to its place by the wall before she turned back to look at Emelia, a hard look on her face. "We will continue this upon my return."

"Yea, whatever." Emelia was officially tired of people thinking she was up to no good or distrust worthy. She had done nothing to warrant such feelings. She, feeling that Tauriel was even more annoying when she spoke than when she was being silent, turned away from her. Emelia did not think her attitude was what Thorin meant by inclining herself to the elves, but she just couldn't help it. "You can resume your interrogation later. It isn't as if I have anywhere to go."

"I imagine you wouldn't while the dwarf is still in prison."

"See you later, Tauriel." Emelia didn't think being overly rude would serve her very well. She tried to smile at the other red head in the hopes that Tauriel might be more likely to believe her lack of involvement with Thorin and his supposed nefarious schemes. "And when you come back will you bring me something besides soggy rolls to eat?"

"Perhaps." Tauriel said, turning to leave the room. "If I were to bring you something more agreeable to eat, would that make you more inclined to tell me the truth?"

"Maybe."

Tauriel left the room after that, leaving Emelia sitting on bed wondering what in the hell had just happened. Tauriel was an odd bird, she decided. One moment she looked like she wanted to slice Emelia into little tiny pieces and feed her to a flock of pigeons and the next she acted as if she was genuinely curious. She didn't know what to think. She was certainly happy it was Tauriel who had been given the responsibility of interrogating her, however weird she was. Emelia couldn't imagine how she would do if it had been some more intimidating elf, someone like King Thranduil for example.

* * *

Emelia was either being very brave or very stupid by sticking her head out of her door without asking permission. She imagined it was a little bit of both. She had sat in her bed for what she thought was a couple of hours after Tauriel left before she finally realized that she couldn't ignore nature's call. She wondered if her bladder was being intentionally annoying, or if she was merely laying all of her frustrations on her own, admittedly inconvenient, body part.

She cracked open her door, reaching a hand down bunch up the ridiculous amount of fabric of her dress to the point that she would be able to walk without face planting.

She stuck her nose out first, sniffing for a moment, before she opened the door more to peer out with one tired eye. She thought she was imaging things when she didn't see the usual two elves posted outside her door. She opened it even further, leaning her head out to see further down the twisty hallway her room was in. Not a soul in sight.

She stepped out of the room hesitantly, fingers squeezing the fabric of her dress against her thighs. Why they had chosen to give her a dress made for a morbidly obese elf, if that was thing, was beyond her. Regardless, she ignored the practicality, or lack thereof, of her dress. She had more pressing matters.

She felt very daring, which was stupid, and rebellious, which was ludicrous, and devious, which was downright ridiculous, as she made her way towards where she knew she could use the bathroom.

She was about halfway there when she noticed that the elves were entirely absent. The hallways, which normally had at least some noise, were completely silent. There were no guards roaming about. No nothing. For the first time in her life she was happy to see nothing. She hiked her dress up even more, moving faster through the deserted hallways. She couldn't help but feel like it was an oversight for the elves to leave her alone, not that she was complaining.

She hurried into the bathroom, or whatever they wanted to call it.

She was disappointed and surprised to learn, once she was finally able to do her business, that there might have been a reason for her general annoyance during the last three days. It had all but slipped her mind, life-threatening situations and what not, that she was technically still female. And apparently tampons weren't a thing here. That was enough to send her into another bought of uninhibited annoyance at life in general.

"As if my life wasn't as miserable enough." Emelia muttered darkly to herself.

She all but stomped out of the bathroom, or whatever, when she was done. She paid very little attention to where she was walking, fully content to curse herself darkly under her breath rather than focus on anything.

Perhaps she should have, considering how lost she found herself. She stopped walking, looking around her with confusion. All of the halls looked the same, yet different, in this convoluted kingdom. At least Rivendell had made sense. It was laid out like it should have been, perfect for guests. This place was a directionally challenged person's worst nightmare. She kept walking, hoping that at some point she would either find her way back to her miserable little room or find some elf that was nice enough not to kill her while simultaneously showing her back.

"Damn bladder, always so damn insistent. Damn va..."

"Emelia?"

Emelia stopped dead in her tracks, fists balling up in front of her face involuntarily.

"Emelia. Close your mouth."

She snapped her lips together, looking around wildly for the source of the voice.

"I am over here."

She scanned the area, looking at all of the walls, ceilings, and floors until she finally settled on the singular door in the area. Rather, the only cell in the area. There was a hand sticking out of it, a hand that had very thick fingers and large rings.

"Oh my god, Thorin!" She practically shouted, causing him to immediately shush her harshly. She ran over to him, tripping over her dress as she went. She slid on her knees the rest of the way, running into the cold metal bars in her rush. "It's you. I never thought I would be happy to see you, but here we are."

Thorin leaned closer to the bars, taking in her face. "Decorum, Emelia."

"Right, how could I forget?" Emelia sat down, leaning back against the metal bars. "Anyway, I shouldn't really be here."

"No, you shouldn't."

"Always so happy to see me."

"I am happy to see you." Thorin said, surprising Emelia to her core.

"Weird." Emelia shifted her arms, suddenly very aware of the thing she had stuffed in her bra two days earlier. She quickly changed the subject to avoid more awkwardness. "Oh, I forgot. I have something you might want."

"Is it a key?" Thorin asked, a bit of hope finding its way reluctantly into his voice.

"No. I haven't been allowed to leave my room for three days, so sorry. But, I do have something better."

"A knife."

"No. Better." She reached into her bra, digging around until she found the pot of honey. She produced it, slipping it in between the bars into his hands. She peered through, expecting to see a smile on his face. There wasn't, which didn't shock her.

"Why is it warm?" Thorin asked, opening it up to sniff it.

"Because it was in my bra." Emelia deadpanned, looking around the empty hallway. She just knew that at any moment the absentee guards would make an appearance, rendering her rather flimsy ruse of detachment from Thorin useless.

"Emelia." He sighed heavily.

"What? I live to make you uncomfortable."

"I am aware." Thorin shifted in his spot, peering out down the hallways with a look of suspicion on his face. "Have they treated you well?"

"Mostly. I don't know, they scare me. And I'm worried about everyone else."

"I worry for them as well."

"Fili and Kili…" She trailed off, placing her hands on her knees.

"You care a great deal for them." Thorin said, almost too quiet to hear. It wasn't a question. When she didn't know how to respond he spoke again, even more quietly. "They care for you as well."

"What can I say, I'm irresistible."

"I am being serious, Emelia."

"I know. You are incapable of any other emotion."

They fell into silence after that. It was compounded by the silence of the kingdom. The longer she sat there the more she felt she was tempting fate. She hadn't been caught yet, but that was likely to change. She knew that, but she couldn't bring herself to leave. Thorin was all she had right now, and as much as a grump as he was, she didn't want to go back to sitting in her room alone. She liked being able to talk to at least one member of the company, she liked being able to see that at least one of them was okay.

"You should go." Thorin said to break the silence, placing the honey on the ground of his cell with a small clatter.

Emelia didn't know why, but his words disappointed her. She and Thorin were awkward acquaintances, at the best of times, but she still wished he would have been a bit more pleased to see her. She was the only person he knew in this hellish place, after all. Maybe Thorin wasn't capable of excitement unless it involved Erebor. She rolled her eyes, moving away from the bars of the cell. "I'll try to find a key." Emelia did not wish to say anymore, lest her disappointment would shine through in her voice. She stood up, rubbing the dirt off the backside of her dress. She took a few steps down the hallway, an odd feeling settling in her stomach about how her interaction with Thorin had gone.

"Emelia, you must be brave." Thorin called to her in a loud whisper. "And be safe. There are people that would never forgive me if I were to let anything happen to you."

She nodded, not turning around to look at him again, knowing full well that if she did he would be able to see the disappointed look on her face.

Emelia was ashamed at the tears that pricked her eyes as she struggled to find her way back to her room. Her conversation was playing over and over in her head, making her almost wish she hadn't left her room in the first place. She scrubbed at her eyes fiercely, angry at herself for, once again, letting Thorin get the better of her. He wasn't being mean. She had no reason to be acting like this. She knew her emotions were getting the better of her, like they always did. It was worse now that she knew why she had been so emotional. She knew she was being stupid. He had actually been quite sincere, considering. She hadn't been able to stop herself from feeling a little underwhelmed at his response to her presence. She had wished he had wanted to talk to her more, but she quickly reminded herself that his attitude was to be expected. It wasn't his fault he got stuck with the one person, besides Bilbo, who caused him more trouble that they were worth.

Emelia, who had been wiping her eyes yet again, should have probably learned to watch where she was going by this point in her life. Maybe then she wouldn't have walked face first into some random elf's chest.

Emelia immediately fell back, landing on her tailbone painfully.

"What are you doing here?" The elf had an accusatory look on his face. He reached down to haul her into a standing position, hand wrapped around her arm painfully. "You shouldn't be out of your cell."

"I thought it was a guest room." Emelia said, trying to subtly pull her arm out of his grasp. She could feel the bruises already.

"Where were you?" The elf squeezed her arm tighter, suspicion marring his face.

"I was looking for the bathroom and got lost." Emelia said, wincing at the pressure on her arm. "Please, you're hurting me."

"Come with me." Emelia didn't really think she had a choice, judging by the grip on her arm. "The king will want to hear about this."

* * *

The king did want to hear about it. Although, he seemed less than impressed with the manner in which she was delivered to him. He stood up from his throne, gliding down to meet her on the platform. He dismissed the elf with a wave of his hand, keeping his gaze on Emelia the entire time. He peered down at her, crossing his slender hands behind his back. She folded her arms over her chest, pointedly ignoring the sharp pain in the muscles of her arm where she had been grabbed.

"I thought we had an understanding, Emelia." He sounded slightly disappointed, which surprised Emelia. "We offered you a safe place, a place free from the dwarf."

"I got lost." Emelia managed to say.

"What did the dwarf say to you?" Thranduil asked, cocking his head to the side.

"I did not talk to him. Why would I?"

"Do not lie to me." Thranduil spat, the passive look on his face suddenly becoming severe.

"I'm not. I wouldn't." Emelia could see and feel the situation deteriorating around her. All because she was a bit absent minded and bitter because of her lady parts. She should have never left her room.

"My king, the guards are back."

Emelia was saved from further interrogation by one of the guards drawing the king's attention away from her.

Thranduil stood up straight, nodding to the elf that had interrupted them. "It just so happens, Miss Montgomery, that your little escapade has rather wonderful timing. It seems we have more company. Perhaps you will know them."

Legolas was the first elf to make her way up the stairs, followed closely by Tauriel. They were followed by a few elves with arms full of weapons and bags. Emelia felt her chest constrict when she saw them. She knew them. She recognized them. She made to step closer, only to realize that she couldn't. Thranduil was still there, still watching her with interest. Legolas moved to speak to the king, words coming out foreign and rapid. Legolas eyed Emelia, suspicion lacing his handsome features. Emelia did not look at him for long, too distracted by the fact that there were currently thirteen dwarves crowing the top of the stairs that led to the king's platform.

"Why is she here?" He asked.

"She may be of use." Thranduil did not leave room for more questions.

Emelia had to force the tears back when she saw how terrible they all looked. Their faces were gaunt and dirty, their hair was abysmally unkempt. Their clothes were covered in something white, something that looked oddly like spider webs. Emelia had never felt so helpless in her entire life. Thorin had told her to be brave. Brave. She repeated the words over and over in her head, trying to force herself to feel it. She almost lost all her resolve when she locked gazes with Kili. His dark eyes widened when he saw her, scanning her quickly. He struggled to say something through the gag, jaw working furiously. Brave. Thorin had told her to be brave. She repeated, hand drifting up to rub her chest over the fabric of her dress.

"Dwarves are a rarity in this kingdom, even more so in such volume." Thranduil addressed them, moving closer to them. Not that Emelia noticed. She was far too busy focusing on Kili, who was just short of smoldering her skin off with the intensity and heat of his gaze. "Speak your purpose."

"We are traveling merchants." It was Fili who spoke, forcing Emelia to look at him. His gaze flicked to her, concern shining through.

"A very well practiced lie." Thranduil deadpanned, eyes following the line of the blond dwarf's look. "I see you recognize our charming guest."

Emelia eyes widened at being addressed. All of the dwarves seemed to notice her at that point. She was happy to see that none of them seemed upset to see her. Most seemed angry to see her in the company of elves. Dwalin looked like he wanted to murder something, and Gloin's face was almost as red as his hair.

"Emelia, come here." Thranduil gestured to her. The dwarves made noises behind their gags, struggling angrily against their chains. "Do you know these dwarves?" He pointed to them, intimidating her with the intensity of his gaze.

She wanted to say yes so badly. She wanted to run over and hug them senseless. Brave. Thorin had told her to be brave and brave she would be. The knowledge that none of them would be happy to see her after made her stomach hurt. "Yes, yes I do."

"From where?"

"They are the ones who kidnapped me." Emelia said, knowing that if she looked at Kili she wouldn't be able to lie any more. The dwarves were in an uproar instantly. They glared at her so fiercely she was reminded of how they felt about her when she first met them.

"Silence." Thranduil did not need to shout to get his point across. "I will have silence." He swanned his way over to Tauriel. "Put them in cells far apart. We wouldn't want them getting too comfortable." Tauriel nodded, reaching down to grab one of the chains attached to Kili. That alone was enough to make Emelia feel even worse.

"You did well, Emelia." Thranduil said, making Emelia wish he hadn't spoken at all. She watched helplessly as the dwarves were dragged away, struggling as they went. She had been so excited to see them and now they were being taken away from her again. Only this time, she had helped. Kili was glaring at her, all caring for her completely evaporated. He looked hurt as well, which made Emelia look away from him in shame. She didn't see how this was helping. But Thorin had said to keep the elves in her favor. She was already teetering on the edge, threatening to fall face first over the side. She couldn't help but feel that she would rather be stuck in a cell with the dwarves that have them thinking she had betrayed them.

"Take her back to her room and double the guards." Thranduil said, pulling her out of her shame spiral.

The tears flowed freely when two elves grabbed her by her upper arms and began to drag her in the opposite direction of the dwarves. Brave. She told herself to be brave. She repeated the word over and over just to keep herself from running after the dwarves. After Kili. She knew he wouldn't want to see her, however. The last look he had given her made that very clear. All of her hard work in getting them to like her, in getting them to accept her evaporated in mere moments. He hated her again, they all did, and she didn't see how any amount of her pathetic bravery would fix that.


	32. B and E

Bilbo was exhausted and hungry. It was an unfortunate combination that left him more annoyed than he had been since the dwarves showed up unceremoniously on his doorstep. He pulled his coat closer around his body, leaning against the corner he had been sleeping in. He felt his muscles tightening up, causing his already sour mood to plummet even further. Nothing seemed to be adding up the way he would have liked. The dwarves were scattered and isolated and Thorin was still missing. Bilbo did not even want to think about Emelia.

He did not like to think that what he had witnessed when he was hiding was true, but he could not see another explanation for her. He would like to speak to her, to clear some things up, but she was about as obscurely placed as the rest of the dwarves. The best thing about the situation with Emelia, to Bilbo, was that it meant Thorin had to be somewhere nearby, unless something truly awful had happened in the forest. It was a distinct possibility that Bilbo didn't like to spend too much time thinking about.

"Is she still refusing to talk?"

Bilbo looked up from his feet, which he had been staring for the last few hours, thinking about what he should do next. He followed the path of two elvish guards as they passed him by with his eyes, taking note of their obliviousness to his presence. It was still an odd feeling to sit in plain view and be completely ignored. He shrunk back instinctively, retreating into his coat despite knowing full well that neither of the elves could see him.

"She's been talking, but it has mostly been wailing about something of questionable importance as of late."

The other elf laughed. It was an obnoxious sound that set Bilbo's teeth on edge.

Bilbo found his interest piqued despite the elf's annoying nature. He wondered briefly who the she who liked to complain was before he realized that there was only one person that he knew that would fit that description. He had a sudden image of Emelia firing off obscenities and complaints to the nearest elf that would listen.

"Do you have the next guard?" The first one asked, speaking so quietly Bilbo was forced to strain his ears in order to hear him properly.

"I'm relieving Hinil for the next ten hours."

Bilbo moved as quietly as possible, drawing himself up into a crouched position. He made to make sure he was covered before he remembered the odd little ring on his finger. It was surprisingly easy to forget.

"I'll walk with you. I need to speak to Tauriel." The second elf said.

"Are you certain the Captain will be there?"

"She has been spending most of her time between the filth and the woman."

"The Captain was always a bit odd in who she chose to spend her time with."

They laughed once again, although Bilbo failed entirely to see what was so funny.

They began to move away from Bilbo. He thought for a moment before he stood up completely, moving after them as silently as possible. He had been moving about the kingdom for three days feeling like he was on the losing side of one of the frustrating games of hide and go seek he used to play as a hobbit lad. The elves had done an annoyingly fabulous job of keeping the dwarves separated and hidden. Bilbo had only come across Bifur, with whom Bilbo still had a hard time communicating with. He had sat outside his cell for a solid day before he realized that all of the dwarves, Bifur included, would be better served if he kept looking around for a way to help them. Emelia may have betrayed them, but she was someone he knew, someone who might know something that could help the dwarves.

Bilbo followed along behind them as quickly and as silently as possible. They led him, unaware of his presence, through the inner hallways of the palace. They seemed to take the most convoluted and backwards way possible, annoying Bilbo to no end, before they finally arrived at a small warmly lit hallway. It was nestled in between some of the larger platforms, perfectly hidden from view. The four guards stationed outside the door looked comically large in the small hallway. They looked less comical once Bilbo saw the amount of weapons they had strapped to them.

Perhaps Emelia had been causing trouble for everyone, not just the dwarves.

Bilbo looked at the door contemplatively. He couldn't exactly open it without drawing unnecessary attention. It seemed silly, however, to sit outside this door. He had been sitting outside doors and against walls for days. The thought of doing it again without trying gave him even more incentive to move towards the closed door.

"Door."

Bilbo had to jump out of the way to avoid being bowled over by the determined looking red headed she-elf who had come out of nowhere. She gestured to the door with a wide sweep of her graceful hand, nodding to one of the elves standing guard by it. It was the first elf, the one with the obnoxious laugh, that opened the door for the red head. She moved gracefully through the doorway, depositing her weapons into the arms of the other elf by the door as she went. Bilbo was confused for a moment, before he realized that he was about to lose his only chance of getting into the room unnoticed due to his own curiosity.

He bounded forward, moving as close to the red head as possible without touching her. Bilbo was thankful he wasn't of a different, more conspicuous race. He was certain the elves around him would have noticed the noises he made if he had been anything but a hobbit. He was a hobbit however, and for that he was eternally thankful.

He back against the nearest wall as soon as he was in the room, breathing heavily from the adrenaline. That was the closest he had been to the elves in the entire time he had been surrounded them. His heart was pounding painfully against his chest, almost as violently as his palms were now sweating. He ran his fingers over the gold ring, feeling the knot in his chest loosening when his skin came in contact with the perpetually warm metal.

"Why do you keep coming back?" Bilbo recognized the annoyance in that voice instantly. He looked up, keeping his fingers on the ring.

Emelia did not look happy to see the elf. She was wrapped up in the thin blanket from her bed, looking oddly like the pastries that Bilbo liked to bake during the summer. Of course, Emelia was anything but a pastry, as they were generally sweet things that made people happy. Emelia hadn't made anyone happy lately that Bilbo was aware of. In fact, it was quite the opposite.

"I brought you something different to eat." The elf lifted a small plate, that Bilbo hadn't noticed before, up for Emelia to see. Emelia sniffed the air, allowing the blanket to move away from her ever so slightly before the stubborn look she usually sported settled on her face again.

"You can eat it. You're skinny enough." Emelia pulled the blanket over her face, slumping face first onto her bed. "Or feed it to the assholes guarding my door."

"Emelia," The red head sounded tired of Emelia. "There is no need to have such an attitude."

"I have every reason to have an attitude." Her voice came out muffled and miserable sounding. "I haven't been allowed to leave this room for three days. Did you know I've had to use the bathroom in a pot?"

"I hope you are aware that the King's hospitality will eventually wear out. He will not tolerate your insolence any more than I do." Bilbo was surprised at the malice in the elf's voice.

"Why won't you just leave?" Bilbo thought Emelia sounded like she was on the verge of tears. He felt a small amount of sympathy in his chest before he remembered that he was supposed to be mad at her. "I'm not going to talk to you, so why do you keep coming back?"

"Morbid curiosity." The red head answered. She moved over to the single chair in the room, dropping the plate of food on the ground as she went. Bilbo moved to the opposite side, fearing the elves acute sense of smell. He had been sweating nervously for days. Bilbo watched the lump that was Emelia, waiting for her to respond. When she didn't make any indication that she would listen to her, the elf filled the silence in her own way. "Come out of the blankets, Emelia."

"No."

"You're being immature."

"If it annoys you so much, you're more than welcome to leave."

"Perhaps we should start over." Tauriel stood up, moving over to speak to Emelia more directly. "It would be easier if you came out of the blanket."

The lump shifted before a small pale hand appeared, lifting up the edge in order to peer out with one tired looking eye. "You don't have very many friends do you?"

"My persistency is off-putting, yes."

"I'm off-putting too." Emelia said, lifting the blanket up a little farther.

"I would not have thought that would be the case." Emelia stifled a laugh in the fabric of her bed. The elf smiled ever so slightly. "Please come out."

Emelia finally lifted the blanket off her face, sitting up. Bilbo noticed that her eyes were shockingly red and puffy, like she had been crying for days on end. Her hair was messy and uncared for and her face seemed to be even gaunter than the last time he had seen her. He felt bad for thinking so poorly of her. Perhaps he had been too quick to disparage her. Seeing how upset she looked made Bilbo think there was more to her side of the story than he originally thought.

"I think we might have started off on bad terms." The elf said, moving to take a seat on the edge of the bed.

"I think you're slightly bi-polar. One minute you're threatening me, the next you're trying to bribe me with food, which won't work by the way."

Emelia hadn't changed much in her time with the elves. Bilbo found that to be slightly comforting. It had taken her a while to warm up to the dwarves and him. It was a nice surprise to see that she gave the same treatment to the elves. Her expression was perpetually suspicious and exhausted, even when it cracked with an occasional smile. Bilbo knew, in that moment, that there was something that was going on beyond what he had originally thought.

"Why are the dwarves here?" The elf asked. Bilbo instantly knew that Emelia had been asked that question numerous times by the sour look that sprung up on her face. Emelia shrugged her shoulders, expression non-committal. "Why are you so stubborn?"

"Tauriel, I have nothing more to say. I told you what happened."

The elf, Tauriel, let out a frustrated sigh. "The king has requested you join him for dinner tonight. If you tell me, you won't have to go."

"Whatever."

"Why don't you understand? The King will not be as…" She paused, a genuine look of concern on her face. "He will not be as tolerant as me."

"I think you fundamentally misunderstand the definition of tolerance." Emelia crossed her arms over her chest. She looked angry as she spoke to Tauriel, eyes narrowing into slits. "All you've done is make it very clear that I am a prisoner that you care about long enough to find out my secrets. The second I tell you anything you're going to turn around and blab about it to King Blondie. Forget it Tauriel. I kept quiet with you and I can sure as hell keep quiet with the King."

Tauriel stood up, seemingly fed up with Emelia. "You are more stubborn than those wretched dwarves."

"Do not..." Emelia stood up as well, throwing her blanket down onto the bed. "Just leave. Take the food with you."

"I'll come back tomorrow." Tauriel seemed to understand that Emelia was not going to say anything else to her.

Emelia waved her hand, sitting back down on her bed heavily. Tauriel looked at her for a moment longer, an odd look on her face that Bilbo couldn't quite place. She left the room after a moment, leaving the plate of cold food forgotten on the floor. Emelia dropped her head into her hands. She sounded like she was struggling to breathe, judging by the sounds of dry heaves that were wracking her body. Bilbo felt torn. He watched as she cried into her hands, struggling to decide what to do. The elves could come back at any moment. The thought petrified Bilbo into leaving his ring on. He couldn't, however, sit and watch her cry without doing anything. He had been so angry with her when he had snuck into her room, but after watching her refuse to talk with Tauriel, he instantly knew that he had been wrong to think that she would ever betray them.

Bilbo rubbed his hands together, feeling his anxiety combining with his guilt uncomfortably in his stomach.

It felt like an eternity of watching her crying before Bilbo couldn't take it anymore. He pulled off the ring, taking note of the heaviness that lifted from him at its absence, before he slipped it into his side pocket.

"Emelia, don't cry."

Emelia looked like she had seen a ghost. She jumped up from her bed, arms outstretched in a defensive position. She glared at him for a moment before she finally registered who he was. She bounded towards him instantly, throwing her arms around his shoulders. She squeezed him until he thought he might pass out for lack of being able to breathe. She sobbed into his ear, hands burying themselves into his coat. He was made very aware of how slight she had become. He could feel her bones pressing against him as she attempted to hug the life out of him. When she didn't show signs of wanting to let him go, he was forced to remove himself from her embrace.

"I thought you were dead." Emelia said thickly. "When you didn't show up with dwarves I thought the worst."

"I am perfectly well, Emelia." Bilbo felt his forgotten affection for her resurfacing when he saw how much she had been worrying about him.

"Where have you been?" Emelia asked, eyes scanning his face. She seemed to be checking for injuries. Bilbo smiled at her when he noticed, holding out his arms for her to see that they were, relatively speaking, unharmed.

"I've been here since the dwarves were captured." Bilbo said, keeping his voice down. He was acutely aware of the elves stationed just outside her door.

"How did you avoid being seen?" Emelia moved back to sit on the bed. She pulled her spindly legs up underneath her, resting her elbows on her knees. "I know you're small, but not that small." Bilbo debated for a moment about whether or not to tell Emelia. It seemed like the right thing to do but he couldn't bring himself to pull the ring out of his pocket to show her. "How did you get in here unseen, by the way?"

"Hobbit cleverness."

Emelia seemed to believe him. Or at least, didn't want to spend too much time thinking about it. "So you were with them when they were brought in?"

"Yes, I saw everything."

She dropped her head, looking down at her sheets shamefully. "I didn't mean to. I mean, I didn't tell the King anything."

"You said you were kidnapped by the dwarves." Bilbo reminded her. He was curious as to her reasoning.

"Thorin told me to." She paused, shaking her head. "Well, he told me not to make them mad. It just sort of slipped out when we were found and now I can't really go back from it."

Bilbo let out a low whistle. He pushed himself up onto the bed next to Emelia, processing the new information. He felt horrible for all of the negative thoughts he had been thinking about her. She didn't deserve all the insults he had been throwing at her in his mind. She deserved it even less once he saw how isolated and alone she had been. He reached out to take one of her small hands in his own, patting it comfortingly. "I will admit I thought the worst of you."

"You and all the other dwarves. Have you seen any of them, talked to any of them?"

"I've seen Bifur but he wasn't much help. You're the only person I've been able to talk to at any length in three days."

"Words can't describe how happy I am to see you, Bilbo."

Bilbo allowed them to sit in silence for a long moment before he got his mind back on track. He released Emelia's hand, jumping down from the bed to stand in front of her. She looked up, pushing her messy hair out of her face. He noticed, in that moment, that even her hair seemed duller. Every part of her looked weary and tired. He wondered how if it was all the elves, or if there was more to her situation. He shook his head, forcing himself to think about their current situation once again in full. "We need a plan Emelia. We can't let them sit in there for the elves to decide what to do with."

"I know."

"Do you know where they are?"

"I accidentally found Thorin when I was walking around in a hormone induced annoyance-trek. But," She interrupted Bilbo as he tried to speak. "There's no way I could find him again."

"That's unfortunate." Bilbo said, wracking his mind for possibilities.

"This whole thing is unfortunate."

Bilbo narrowed his eyes at her. There was something off about Emelia. She was not normally so humorless and hollow sounding. Even when she had been tortured by the trolls for days she had managed to make the dwarves laugh. Even after the Goblin King she was more happy and carefree than she was now. She held herself like something was sitting on her shoulders, weighing her down until the point that she almost doubled over.

"Emelia, what is bothering you?"

She seemed hesitant to tell him. Emelia glanced around the room, rubbing her hands along her arms before she finally answered him. "They hate me Bilbo. All of them. I've been sitting here for three days, thinking about how much they must hate me. Kili," She paused, hands clenching up. "Kili and Fili hate me."

"They don't understand." Bilbo said, hoping to get her to snap out it. "They'll know you were always on their side once we get them out. They'll know that you would never do something like that to them."

"Let's be real for a second, Bilbo. We are two very small people, with very little resources, and nothing going for us. I'm not allowed to leave my room anymore and you aren't even technically supposed to be here. How are we supposed to fix this? Hobbit cleverness can only go so far."

"We'll just have to be more than clever."

Emelia flopped back onto the bed, throwing her arms up over her face. She let out a frustrated sound. "Bilbo, I'm useless. You know this and I know this."

"Kili doesn't think so." Bilbo knew he was being horribly cruel by bringing up the one dwarf that was sure to upset Emelia even further. He couldn't allow her to descend into a ball of useless emotion and self-loathing, however. She might not be the best person to get the dwarves out of their cells, but she was the only person he had. Besides, Bilbo had always found her resilience to be commendable. Perhaps, if he was blunt enough, that resilience and defiance might resurface again. He was fully convinced that it was the reason she had survived the trolls, and the goblin king, and practically drowning. "Are you going to let what they think about you right now become true? Are you going to let them think that you sat by and did nothing to get them? Are you going to let Kili sit in his cell and rot?"

"Now you're just being mean." Emelia said, glaring at him out of the crevice of her arms.

"I am merely being honest, Emelia."

"You're an emotional terrorist." She stopped, sitting up. "So let's pretend for a second that we could get them out of their cells. Where would we go from there? This entire place is crawling with moody elves. We would be caught within moments."

Bilbo fell silent, thinking. "You are dinning with the King tonight?"

"Apparently."

"While you're with him, I will survey the area and see if I can find a way out. You see if you can convince him to let you out of your room for a little bit." When she didn't respond, Bilbo prodded her. "Can you do that, Emelia?"

"I don't know, maybe."

"Emelia, you have to."

"Okay, yes alight. I'll schmooze with the King. Although, the thought gives me the heebie-jeebies."

"When will they come to get you?"

"Dinner is usually given to me around this time, so soon probably." Bilbo nodded his head, reaching his fingers into his pocket. He poked at the warm metal of the ring.

"I'm going to disappear now." Bilbo informed her, eyeing the door nervously. His palms were starting to sweat now that he knew that the elves could be there at any moment. He just about had the ring on his finger when she stood up, holding out her arms to stop him.

"Wait, we need a codename."

"What?" Bilbo looked over at the door again.

"We're practically spies, Bilbo. We need a codename for our operation to get the dwarves out."

"How about Operation Free the Dwarves?" Bilbo said, not understanding what she was talking about in the slightest. He humored her, however, hoping it would keep her from sinking back into her sadness.

"Too obvious." She paced around the room, rubbing her hands together in front of her stomach. "Our initials are B and E. B and E. B and E? Breaking and Entering? Oddly poetic and applicable, but too criminal I think." Bilbo watched her as she rambled, waiting for her to make up her mind. "I know! Bacon and Eggs!"

Bilbo felt his face scrunch up. "I don't know, Emelia."

"No, it's perfect. Bacon and Eggs is not only a delightful breakfast meal, but they are also unassuming and nutritious. Kind of like us."

"We are unassuming and nutritious?" Bilbo asked, unable to keep the humor out of his voice.

"No, we're delightful and wonderful. Like Bacon and Eggs."

There was a knock on the door. Bilbo instantly slipped his ring on, ignoring the alarmed look on Emelia's face. He backed away to the nearest wall, flattening himself against it. He controlled his breathing, hoping to go unnoticed once again. Emelia stared at the place he had been, eyebrows knitted together. He wished he could wave his hands at her to get her to stop looking at him. He couldn't however, resulting in a spike in anxiety levels. He was happy to see that it was Tauriel who entered the room. He had been able to avoid being detected by her already. Perhaps he would be able to do so again. Tauriel look suspicious, but she aimed it more at Emelia, rather than at the room.

"Who were you talking to?"

Emelia's eyes widened. Bilbo had to fight his breathing once again. He couldn't do anything about his increase in heart rate, however.

"Myself. I was talking about how much I love bacon and eggs."

"That must be a human thing." Tauriel said.

"And a hobbit thing." Emelia muttered to herself.

"What?"

"What?"

"You just said something."

"No I didn't."

Tauriel eyed her for a moment before she decided it was not worth it to bother Emelia about it. "It is time for dinner. Come."

"Are you joining us?" Emelia asked, gathering her skirts up to avoid tripping. Bilbo thought she looked ridiculous, like she was drowning in fabric.

"Yes, and Legolas is as well."

Emelia nodded her head, allowing Tauriel to hold open the door for her. "It'll be a nice comfortable dinner then. Zero chance for awkwardness."

"I would not count on that." Tauriel said.

She shut the door behind them, leaving Bilbo in silence. He listened until the sounds of their voices dissipated before moving from his spot. He moved to the door, placing his ear next to it. He was delighted to hear that the four guards were following after the two women. He took that as his cue to leave. Bacon and Eggs. How ridiculous. He couldn't help but smile, however, as he walked stealthily through the hallway outside Emelia's room. It was very Emelia. It should not have surprised him that she would pick a name like that. She had named a horse Toadstool after all.


	33. The Ugly Girl at Prom

Emelia was acutely aware of the obnoxious sounds of her chewing in the virtually quiet hall. It made the entire dinner ordeal that much more awkward. She kept her gaze on her plate, moving her half eaten pile of potatoes around with her fork. She hadn't even touched the small venison steak. She had been excited when she saw it being set in front of her. Half an hour later and her feelings were not quite the same. She was thankful that the King preferred to take his meals in a nice open area. It gave her plenty to look at besides the elves sitting around her. Tauriel did not seem to be of the same opinion. She had been shooting her weird looks the entire time. Emelia was tempted to kick her legs under the table, just to get the infuriating elf to stop but she didn't trust herself not to accidently kick Legolas, or even worse, the King.

"You have hardly touched your food, Emelia." Tauriel's voice interrupted Emelia, who had been creating swirling patterns in the now cold gravy on her potatoes. "Beyond treating it as your own personal canvas, that is."

Emelia thought Tauriel might be a bit too cheeky for her own good. She knew that was like calling the kettle black so she kept her thoughts to herself. She looked over at the other redhead, making a face at her that most would consider rude.

"I hope you are enjoying your stay thus far." Thranduil spoke, drawing Emelia's attention away from Tauriel. He had his long hands folded underneath his chin. He was gazing at Emelia, a calculating look on his smooth face. "There have been very little disturbance coming from your room, as of late."

Emelia resisted the urge to ask what disturbances she had caused in the first place. "I have been settling in."

"I am pleased to hear that." She wondered if he knew his face didn't move when he spoke.

No one spoke after that. Emelia wasn't quite sure what she was supposed to say. He made it seem like she was something beyond a glorified prisoner. Emelia knew, without a doubt, that she was. Guests didn't usually have four armed guards outside of their door at all hours of the day. Her hands fidgeted; itching for something to do to stave the discomfort she was feeling. She picked up her goblet of water, taking a throaty gulp of the room-temperature liquid. It resonated through the silence that had followed Thranduil's words awkwardly.

"I had hoped to learn a bit more about you."

"What would you like to know?" Emelia asked, glancing at Tauriel as she did so. As much as the female elf annoyed her, she found she was happy Tauriel was there. Even when she was being a perpetual thorn in Emelia's side, there had been moments, brief little time periods in which Emelia had almost liked Tauriel.

"Where do you come from?"

"The north. By the ocean." She said. She had had the dwarves misunderstand her and where she comes from far too many times to not have learned. As sad as it was, nobody in Middle Earth knew what or where Kessog, Alaska was. "My family are ice fishers."

"Fascinating."

"I guess. Most would call it boring."

"You misunderstand me, Emelia. I merely meant that it is quite fascinating that a child from the north, a child from such humble beginnings, would have found herself thrown in with such a group."

"Excuse me?" Emelia wasn't sure why she was so annoyed by being repeatedly called a child.

"Where did the dwarves find you?"

Emelia clenched her hands together in her lap. "I was by a river when they found me."

"And you have been with them since."

"I don't really want to talk about them." Emelia said, hoping the pained look on her face came across as stemming from dislike for the dwarves rather than the actual truth.

"You will have to forgive me."

Emelia looked back at her plate. She was supposed to be charming them enough for them to let her out of her room. That obviously wasn't happening in the way she would have liked. Bacon and Eggs, she had to remind herself. She had the sudden imagine of Bilbo flitting about, apparently able to turn invisible now, looking for the dwarves. It wouldn't really matter if she didn't hold up her end of the bargain. It wouldn't really matter if she couldn't convince the King to allow her out of her room for more than just awkward dinners.

Emelia looked up, taking in the area in which they were eating dinner in full for the first time. It was minimally lit, which gave it a cozy feel that Emelia couldn't help but think rang false. She did notice that there were barrels upon barrels stacked in the corner near an arched door that led to an unknown place. She watched as a couple of elves, dressed in something different than the elves that had been guarding her room, shifted the barrels onto their sides. The elves looked like they were servants, of some sort.

"Pardon the distraction they are causing. We have a rather large festival coming up in two days' time."

"Festival?" Emelia asked, looking away from the elf that was currently rolling a barrel down the hallway that led to nowhere.

"Mareth-en-Gilith." Thranduil said, looking genuinely pleased about something for the first time. "The festival of light." Thranduil clarified upon seeing the confused look on Emelia's face.

"Sounds exciting." Emelia thought that something that centered on celebrating light would have to be pretty. She would like to see something pretty.

"Would you like to go?" Thranduil asked, surprising both Emelia and the other two elves at the table. Emelia opened her mouth, thinking how to respond, before she closed it again. It was perfect. Bilbo had said to try and get out of her room. A party was about as good an excuse as any. She was a bit confused however. It seemed too perfect. There had to be some sort of catch, some sort of reason that he would suddenly be generous enough to let her out of her room. She narrowed her eyes considerably, suspicion filling her up.

"I...well…yeah I'd love to go."

"Wonderful." Thranduil looked at her for a moment too long before he turned suddenly to address the other two elves. "I want a private word with Miss Montgomery." The other two, while allowing themselves to look confused for the briefest of moments, stood up instantly.

"I will see to the shipments coming in." Legolas said, speaking for the first time during the meal. He had not been enthusiastic to see her at the table and had, therefore, spent most of his meal in stony silence. He looked her over once, a mistrusting look on his handsome face, before he left. His plate of food, which was mostly empty, was cleared away almost instantly by a serving elf. Tauriel lingered a bit longer, folding her hands in front of her.

"Tauriel, leave us."

Tauriel looked as if she wanted to say something. She thought better of it, apparently. She walked gracefully out of the room, leaving Emelia wishing she wouldn't have left at all. Thranduil scared her. There was no other way of describing it. She would have given anything to avoid being left alone with him. Emelia picked at the skin by her thumb nail, waiting for Thranduil was going to say to her. She wondered, briefly, if he was going to tell her that she was going to be able to leave soon. The thought quickly left her mind when she remembered that Thranduil was far too clever and seemingly conniving to let her walk away scot-free.

"Take a walk with me, Emelia."

All of the stranger-danger talks she had received as little girl, which had always seemed a little unnecessary in Kessog, flashed across her mind. Her hands shock violently as she stood up to follow after him to an unknown location. Maybe he was going to kill her to tie up some loose ends. Maybe he was going to throw her into a cell and be done with the whole pretense of her being a guest. Maybe he wasn't going to do anything at all and she was simply overreacting like she always did. Regardless, she couldn't stop her limbs from shaking like a newborn deer. She moved to stand next to him, allowing enough room between them that she could feasibly make a run for it, if it should come to that. She didn't imagine that it would, but it was sort of her involuntary way of operating as of late.

She wondered, as a way of calming herself down, when she had become so twitchy.

Thranduil left the table they had been eating for the servants to take care of. "I'd like to show you something. I think you will find it illuminating."

She avoided looking at him directly. She kept her gaze on the ends of his ornate robes when she wasn't looking around at all the hallways they were passing by. Emelia almost ran into him when he stopped suddenly after leading her around for what she thought felt like fifteen Minutes or so. He was standing on the edge of a platform that looked down into a seemingly endless labyrinth of steps and other smaller landings. He stepped aside for her. She moved closer, hoping that he wasn't planning on pushing her over the side just for kicks. She peered down, holding her arms tightly to her sides. She looked at them for a moment, trying to decide what she was supposed to be gathering from it before she gave up.

"What it is?" Emelia asked, leaning back to address Thranduil with a cautious voice.

"You will notice, if you look closely enough, that were are standing above some of the numerous cells in the Woodland Realm."

Emelia leaned back farther, knowing deep in her gut that this was not a place she wanted to be.

"Your dwarvish friends are down there." Thranduil said simply. "Excuse me, your dwarvish _kidnappers_ are down there."

"I…"

"I am not interested in any explanation you have to offer." Thranduil said flippantly with a wave of his hand. "I am only interested in clarifying the situation for you." Emelia picked at the skin by her nail even more furiously, completely oblivious to the fact that she had drawn blood. She chewed on the inside of her lip, looking at the floor like it was the most interesting thing in the entire world. "Those dwarves are singularly focused on returning to Erebor to recover the treasure that they believe is solely theirs."

"Isn't it?" Emelia asked, despite telling herself that she was going to keep quiet.

"No it is not." He sounded angry, which made Emelia instantly regret speaking at all. He composed himself, turning to look down at her. "I have a proposal for you and I think you would be wise to accept."

Emelia thought seriously about running. Her mother had always said that there was no shame in running away. Emelia had always thought that was a cowardly thing to say. Emelia realized, in that moment, that her mother had been right all along. Running away seemed like such a good, safe option.

"I am going to allow them to leave, out of goodness, in order to reclaim their home in Erebor. You will accompany them."

"What? N…"

"You will secure for me the share of the treasure that belongs to this realm and no other. No dwarf had a right to take it, and they have even less of a right to keep it hidden from my people." Emelia was certain she was about to collapse. Her legs felt as if they could no longer support her. She had to step back from the ledge to keep from teetering off the side.

"I can't do that." Emelia said, knowing that any possibility of being let out of her room again was now officially off the table.

"Emelia, you must me think me terribly unintelligent."

"No."

"Then you must know that I am not asking. I am telling you. If you do not comply, I will lock you away so deep that no one will ever be able to find you, even if there was someone bothered enough to try."

* * *

Emelia wondered if it was possible to die from lack of sleep. She imagined she might be heading that direction. She was lying on her side, ignoring Bilbo's cold toes pressed against her calves, staring at the empty off-white wall in front of her. He was snoring slightly, making her envious of his ability to fall asleep despite everything. He didn't have Thranduil's threat bouncing about in his head like she did. It had been two days and she still couldn't stop hearing it, she still couldn't stop thinking about it.

It was sometime in the early morning, but she didn't care. All of the hours seemed to run together in an impossibly hard to understand blur. She kicked Bilbo's legs off her side of the bed, rolling over to look at the ceiling. Mareth-en-Gilith was tonight. Bilbo's plan was happening that night. Everything was happening that night and it felt like she was shutting down. The ceiling felt much closer than it normally did, just as the sheets felt like they were holding onto more heat than usual. She was tempted to push Bilbo out of the bed entirely just the relieve the claustrophobia that she was feeling, but she instantly thought better of that. He had been very kind to her, having not said a single thing about her moody attitude.

Emelia rolled over to face him, propping her arm up on her pillow. She knew she should have been scandalized about sharing a bed with a man like person, even one so small as Bilbo. Her mother would have been, if she knew. She wasn't however. In fact, she wasn't sure she would have survived much longer without him there to comfort her.

"You should be sleeping, Emelia." Bilbo said, keeping his eyes shut. "You haven't for days."

"I can't." She breathed out, her thoughts switching over to what they were planning for that evening. "I'm scared."

"I know. I am too." He finally opened his eyes. "But our plan will work."

"How on earth am I supposed to distract the butler long enough for you to get the key?" Emelia asked, doubting, once again, the effectiveness of their plan. In all honesty, it was a majority of the reason she stayed awake at night.

"I find you are capable of a special type of charm that is uniquely distracting." Bilbo sounded exhausted. Emelia instantly felt bad for burdening him with her own issues, when she knew that he was dealing with so many of his own. The dwarves expected him to get them out on his own, probably having given up on her entirely. "You just have to be yourself and the rest will fall into place the way it needs to, I am certain."

"You're very sweet and totally full of bullshit."

Bilbo laughed quietly. "The dwarves will forgive you, Emelia. I know you are scared that when it comes down to it that they won't take you back, but you shouldn't think about that too much."

"I am scared of everything and the dwarves are only a part of that. I don't know why, but it seems like it's getting worse. All of this seems so much worse than the trolls, and I can't help but think that's really messed up. Why should elves scare me more than some dodgy Goblin King? It's like my insides are constantly shriveling up and eventually I'm not going to be able to move anymore because I'm too afraid to." Emelia buried her face in her thin pillow, breathing heavily.

"Ignore what the King said. He's letting you out tonight and we're leaving. He won't be able to force you to do anything, let alone steal treasure from the dwarves." Bilbo paused, shifting the blankets around. "You will cause yourself to go insane with these thoughts, Em." Bilbo used her nickname for what she thought was the first time, causing Emelia to feel even more affection for the little hobbit.

"I think I might already be there."

"Regardless…"

"No, Bilbo. I'm serious. I've never felt so out of control of my own life before. I can't get a handle on anything."

"Well, it's a good thing you aren't required to do it alone, now isn't it?" Bilbo said that in a way that effectively ended the conversation. "Now, try and sleep. You'll need your wits about you tonight."

* * *

Tauriel and Emelia stared at each other awkwardly, both waiting for the other to speak first. The two maids that had come into the room with her ignored the slight standoff pointedly. They seemed very sour about having to prepare Emelia for Mareth-en-Gilith. Bilbo had, thankfully, left to go scout some last minute details. Emelia wasn't sure she could have handled it if Bilbo had been present for her latest bought of mortification. It was bad enough having Tauriel there, as it were.

"It is just a dress."

"I'm tired of wearing dresses. You aren't wearing a dress, why should I?" Emelia asked, crossing her arms over her chest. "This muumuu is enough to turn me off the whole concept forever." Emelia gestured down to the dress she was currently wearing, a look of disdain crossing her face.

"If you would stop complaining long enough, I would have offered you an alternative."

"The bath is ready."

"Undress." Emelia dropped the dress of her body as quickly as possible. She had finally given up objecting to being naked in front of the female elves. They didn't seem to mind, even if she did.

"I though you would fit into something old of mine. When I was an elleth I was never very fond of dresses, so the seamstresses made me a little something special." Emelia stepped into the bath, only half-listening to Tauriel. Even if she didn't mind being naked in front of them, she still wasn't entirely comfortable with conversing with them. The maids stood against the wall, looking as if there was no place in the world they would rather be less.

"I think it will fit you." Tauriel pulled it out from behind her. It wasn't a dress, so Emelia didn't really care what it was. Anything would be an improvement. It was startlingly similar to what Tauriel was wearing, only much smaller and much less lethal looking. It did look like it was made for a child, which instantly made Emelia look down at her own body in the water. She supposed to an elf she was only the size of a child, as depressing as that thought was.

"You are being eerily nice." Emelia said thoughtfully, scrubbing the bottom of her foot. She tried to subtly clean up her nether regions after that, trying her best to do so without any of the elves noticing.

"I do not want you to be unhappy here."

"Am I going to be here for a while?" Emelia paused with her scrubbing, looking across the room at Tauriel. If her plans with Bilbo worked out, she wouldn't be in Mirkwood longer than a day. The thought made her more excited than she could put into words. It made her almost as excited as she when she thought about being able to see the dwarves again. She had lost count of how many days she had gone without them. She knew it was too many.

"Yes, you will be."

"That's bloody fantastic." Emelia said, doing her best to sound bitter about the prospect. She couldn't be, truly. She was too excited about leaving to be bitter. "I mean that in the best possible way, of course."

"I have not been very nice to you."

"Well, no."

"I think we are similar, in a way, and I was hoping that we might start anew." Tauriel looked and sounded truly genuine. It made Emelia feel slightly bad about being so excited about leaving. She didn't feel bad enough to reconsider, not in the slightest. She hated Mirkwood, every single thing about it made her palms sweat and her stomach churn with anxiety.

"I think we're both obnoxious, if that's the similarity you're talking about."

Tauriel smiled.

"Come out, the celebration has already started. You need to get dressed."

Those words caused a bubble of excitement and apprehension to build in her stomach. The excitement quickly gave way to the ever increasing fear she had come to expect to be constantly present. She couldn't help but think that Bilbo thought a bit too highly of her to think that she could pull of the feat he expected of her. She had been repeating their mantra, Bacon and Eggs, over and over again once Bilbo had told her the plan. It seemed absurd, using barrels and whatnot, but she hoped it was the sort of absurdity that would work in their favor.

The maids moved forward, one holding a towel, one holding the outfit.

Emelia felt oddly like the ugly girl at the prom when all was said and done. The maids looked beautiful, if not bitter, in their dresses. Tauriel looked more beautiful, even though she was wearing the same outfit Emelia had always seen her in. Emelia looked awkward, for lack of a better term. The pants were a bit too big and sagged in odd places, and the molded leather breast plate was a little too small, causing her breasts to push up uncomfortably. Emelia looked down at her gangly self, choosing, in that moment, to focus on more important things than her physical appearance. It wasn't as if any of the elves would be noticing her for her beauty, or whatever was left of it, anyway. They would be too busy enjoying their festival to notice her, and that was something she was thankful for.

The less noticeable she was, the easier it would be for her to slip away and leave Mirkwood entirely.

* * *

Emelia wasn't sure she trusted Bilbo's plan. It was a bit ludicrous, if Emelia was being perfectly frank. Barrels. Empty wine barrels, of all things. Emelia, who had finally been able to slip away from the rather raucous party, stared at them critically from her spot under the stairs.

Normally Emelia would have quite enjoyed herself at a party. She had never really been to one before. It was an odd thing, but the elves seemed to know how to let loose in a way that Emelia would have never imagined. There was a lot more drinking, and a lot more eating, and a lot more dancing than she would have pictured. In her mind they were the kind that had wine and cheese tastings before retiring to their knitting patterns. Mareth-en-Gilith was not like anything she would have expected.

Emelia had stood against the wall, feeling even more like she was at a prom out of an 80s' movie, before she finally decided she couldn't delay the inevitable any longer then she already had.

Emelia shifted in her spot, knowing full well that Bilbo was waiting for her to do her part of the plan. She wasn't sure what she imagined when she thought about getting the dwarves out, but getting the butlers drunk was certainly not it. The two butlers, freakishly tall brunettes with upturned noses, had already sent up three more barrels of wine in the time that she had been crouched under the stairs. She could see the empty barrels that Bilbo planned on using stacked up in the middle of the room. They seemed to her as if they were missing something. Dwarves to fill them up, maybe.

The butlers had yet to take note of her presence. She knew she would need to change that if they were going to succeed. Eventually it would be too late, and she wasn't willing to allow that to happen. She wasn't willing to allow something else to add itself to her list of failures.

She stood up, forcing her breathing to return to less suspicious levels. Emelia screwed her face up into a charming smile as she fluffed her now boyish hair. She knew they were not likely to be attracted to her in the way that would have made her task easier. She looked too much like a prepubescent boy for that. But she hoped she might be able to ply them with enough wine on the basis of her human curiosity about the ways of elvish culture.

The butlers looked at her with confused expressions as she disentangled herself from the rope she had mistakenly gotten caught on. She could feel their gazes on her as she righted herself, a terrible blush on her face. It felt like an eternity before she was finally able to stand up straight in front of them.

"Er, hi." Emelia said, fixing them with an awkwardly wide smile.

"You are the human." The taller of the two said, narrowing his eyes at her. "You are much smaller than was described."

"I was described?" Emelia asked, taking a few tentative steps towards the two of them.

"You and the dwarves are all the kingdom seems to talk about." The other one said. Emelia was happy to see that they were both much nicer than she would have expected. In fact, judging by the looks on their faces, they seemed almost excited by her.

"Why aren't you at Mareth-en-Gilith?" Emelia asked, daring to seat herself at the small table against the wall. They both laughed about something, which made Emelia think she had committed some sort of cultural faux pas. She instantly stood up, scratching the back of her neck awkwardly.

"It is pronounced Mareth-en-Gilith." The taller one said.

"That's what I said. Mareth-en-Gilith." They laughed again. Emelia felt herself sour towards the two of them ever so slightly. She sat back down, folding her arms across her chest.

"I am in charge of testing the King's wine and making sure cups never run dry." Emelia picked at the wood of the table, thinking about how best to get the two of them to start drinking, as she listened to the shorter of the two.

"And you don't get any for yourself?" It sounded cheesy, and forced, and entirely transparent, but she tried anyway.

"I sip a bit from the top now and them."

"I'd like to try some, if you don't mind. I've never had elvish wine." Emelia smiled as brightly as she could muster. "Only if you'd join me, of course."

They seemed to debate for a moment. The shorter one looked at the stairs that spiraled up to the walkway, as if waiting for someone to catch him fraternizing with the odd human female, before he allowed himself to smile slightly at her. The other one seemed to have no issue at all. In fact, he seemed downright delighted at the idea.

"I had been hoping to try the new wine the King procured. Say what you will about him, but he always seems to have such impeccable taste."

Emelia let out a small, shuttering breath. She glanced around the room as they went to get three glasses and the decanter of wine. She took in everything she could while they weren't looking at her, hoping beyond a hope that Bilbo could see that she was doing her part of Bacon and Eggs. It took all of her willpower not the cry with excitement when she saw the keys hanging on the hook. She wondered briefly why they were down there until she looked over at the taller one more closely. He wasn't dressed the same as the short one. He wore clothes startlingly similar to Tauriel, now that she was really looking at him.

Emelia was forced back to paying attention to the two elves when they set a small glass of wine in front of her. She wasn't sure why, but she hadn't actually planned on drinking. It seemed she wouldn't be able to avoid it, however. She picked up the cold glass, taking note of how much more wine the other two had in front of them, before she lifted her own up in front of her.

"Prost." Emelia said, lifting the glass up to her lips. "Or whatever the hell you elves say."

* * *

Emelia never thought she would be proud to get someone drunk, but there she was, grinning like an idiot at the two elves. They had said they were only going to drink one, but that notion had quickly been forgotten around the time of their sixth glass. Emelia had stopped after one, claiming that it made her feel slightly nauseous. They had gotten giggly, for a bit, before they had slumped over onto the table without another word after an hour of solid drinking. She couldn't shake the feeling that she had taken advantage of their pleasantness.

Bilbo didn't seem to notice, or care, seeing as how he had taken the keys off the hook next to the guard ten minutes ago.

She hadn't been able to stop fidgeting since.

They were coming, the dwarves were really coming. It all seemed to be happening too fast. She had been thinking about getting them out for what felt like an eternity, and now they were hopefully on their way currently. She refused to allow herself to become excited until she saw them standing in front of her. So much could go wrong while she sat there waiting for them. They could get caught, or fall off one of the platforms, or accidentally end up getting lost in the labyrinth of halls for hours.

"The cellars, he's led us to the cellars!" Emelia, who had been in the process of quietly attempting to get off her chair without waking the two elves, promptly stumbled onto the floor. She knew that voice. She had thought about the owner for that voice for days on end. She had thought she might not ever see him again. Kili. He was there, in the flesh. All of them were.

"What was that?" Another voice said, slightly quieter than Kili. "What was that banging?" Emelia scrambled up to her feet, annoyed she had little control she had over her muscles. "It sounded like a large rat."

"Or an Emelia."

All of the dwarves were looking at her, varying degrees of anger on their faces. Fili seemed the least angry to see her, Dwalin the most. She hardly had time to process their emotions before she Dwalin was crossing the small room with stomping strides. Her mouth dropped open into an 'o' of surprise when he grabbed her arms roughly, slamming her against the nearest beam.

"You little traitor." He hissed at her, squeezing her arms tight enough to bruise. "You snake. We trusted you, we protected you, and this is how you repay us? By claiming we kidnapped you? How dare you!"

"Dwalin, release her." Dwalin did not seem to hear Thorin's voice. He pressed her against the beam harder, pushing until she thought it might snap. "Now!" It was only at the authoritative tone in Thorin's voice that Dwalin stepped back from Emelia, looking as if he very much wanted to hit her across the face for good measure. Emelia released the breath she didn't realize she had been holding once she thought he was a safe distance from her. She knew she should be appalled that he would grab her like that, but she wasn't. She completely understood.

They had every right to hate her.

"Are you hurt, Emelia?" Emelia looked up from the ground, focusing on Thorin.

"I'm fine."

"Right, I'm sure we'll have time to sort out all the domestic matters later, but for now, all of you need to get in the barrels." Bilbo said, sounding both panicky and annoyed. He was eyeing Dwalin with what Emelia knew to be anger.

"She's not coming is she?" Gloin asked, glaring at Emelia with malice she didn't know he possessed.

"And why wouldn't she?" Bilbo asked, impatience lining his voice. "Now get in the barrels. We don't have time to sit here and argue about it. Someone is bound to notice you lot are out of your cells, and if they do then all of this work me and Emelia have put into getting you out will have been for nothing."

"She helped?"

"No need to sound surprised." Emelia said, having finally recovered from the shock that Dwalin had given her.

"I am surprised. Why wouldn't I be? You told them we kidnapped you." Kili took a step away from Fili, fixing her with the most hurt look she had ever seen. "I spent days thinking you had died, thinking you had been eaten by some massive spider, or worse. And after torturing myself with worrying about you, thinking about you when I should have been focusing on other things, I find out you've been living with them like we don't even matter to you. I thought you were finally beginning to be settled, after everything that happened. That maybe I," He paused, shaking his head. "We were enough to make you happy. Apparently I was wrong. Apparently you couldn't wait to be rid of us."

"I'm so sorry, Kili." Emelia said, rubbing her arm with her hand. It was tender and puffy from where Dwalin had grabbed her. "I can't say how sorry I am. To all of you."

"I don't believe you." Kili said, turning away from her completely. "Why should I?"

"We need to go." Bilbo interrupted the silence that had followed Kili's words. "Everyone, in the barrels."

No one seemed very willing to listen to Bilbo. Maybe it was her judgment they questioned. Regardless, they all looked to Thorin. Thorin, who had been eyeing the conversation between Kili and Emelia warily, turned his attention back to the barrels in question. He seemed hesitant, which Emelia understood, but finally decided that Emelia and Bilbo's logic was sound. Or sound enough to get them out of Mirkwood.

"Into the barrels, quickly. We will sort the rest out when we are free of this foul place."

Emelia imagined by the rest he meant her. She hoped that would mean getting the rest of the dwarves to stop disliking her with so much vigor, but that seemed very unlikely. They were stubborn, as she had unfortunately come to learn, and not likely to change their minds any time soon.


	34. The Loofa

Emelia could literally feel the awkward. It coated the entire cellar like a blanket, seeming to suffocate her with the sheer uncomfortableness of it all. The only sound that followed Thorin's rather forceful demand was the snores that came from the two elves still slumped at the table. The dwarves stared at each other for half a moment longer before they decided that the intense look coming from Thorin was all the encouragement they needed. Emelia watched them as they chose their barrels, fighting with each other for the bottom ones, before she finally decided that she should find her barrel as well. Gloin had to be practically shoved into the last bottom row one, leaving her with no option but to climb up to one of the top ones. She had been hoping to avoid that.

"Which one is mine, Bilbo?" She noticed, with a large amount of disdain, that her voice had taken on an overall mousy quality quite suddenly.

The dwarves that were still climbing into their barrels shot her nasty looks. Normally she would have ignored them. She thought she could have if Kili wasn't one of them.

"Oh," Bilbo seemed flustered as he moved along the barrels, counting on his fingers as he went. His frustration became even more evident when he came to the unfortunate conclusion that there were only thirteen barrels for fifteen people. Bilbo ran his hands through his hair, looking at the last couple of unoccupied barrels that were meant for Fili and Kili before he turned back to Emelia. "It looks like you'll have to share with someone."

Emelia shrunk at his words. She glanced at the dwarves that were sticking their heads out of their barrels. None of them, with the exception of Balin and Bofur, seemed very eager to make eye contact with her, let alone share an enclosed space. "I'll share with you, Bilbo." She picked at the ends of her sleeves.

"You'll share with me, Emelia."

Bilbo was just as surprised as Emelia was to hear Fili speaking up. He looked over at the blonde dwarf for a moment, mouth slightly agape, before he recomposed himself. "There you have it. Now we really must go before the elves notice you lot have gone missing. Get into your barrels."

There was shouting from above them, which spurred them all into frantic movements. The dwarves already in the barrels buried themselves back far enough that they were out of sight at first glance. Fili clambered his way up to the topmost barrel, narrowly avoiding a few fingers as he went. He shifted about, turning so that he was facing outward while still leaving enough room in the barrel for Emelia. He poked his head out of the side, seeming to expect her to follow after him. Emelia, who was still standing next to Bilbo, glanced around the cellar. Fili sighed, forcing her attention back onto him. He extended his arms, gesturing for her to come with one of them.

"We certainly don't have all day for you to take your sweet time, Emelia."

She looked at Bilbo one more time before she finally decided that Fili was right. She was acutely aware of the dwarves staring at her as she picked her way to the top barrel quickly. She half expected one of them to push her off if she lingered in front of them for too long, resulting in her maneuvering her way up to the top at the twice the speed that Fili had moved at. She hesitantly grabbed the hand Fili had extended to her, allowing him to pull her inside the tight space along beside him. She instantly scooted until she was pressed up against the smooth wood, wanting to put as much space in between her and Fili as possible. He seemed to be angry enough at her without adding the stress of confined spaces.

"What happens now?" Emelia was far too busy situating herself to pay attention to who had spoken.

"Hold your breath." Bilbo said, anxiety lacing every word he spoke.

"What?" Fili asked, daring to stick his head out of the barrel. "Hold my br…"

Fili was cut off by the creaking sound of an opening door followed by girlish screaming that Emelia was certain didn't come from her. Fili shrank back into the barrel, wrapping his arms around Emelia out of, what she was sure, was reflex. She knew what was coming, considering Bilbo and her had talked about it for hours on end, but it didn't stop her from feeling an exorbitant amount of fear. Her heart leapt out of her chest when the floor sunk out from underneath them. The barrel slammed into the ground with a crack before proceeding to roll down an incline. Emelia and Fili bounced against each other painfully as the barrel rolled for what felt like a hundred feet. Emelia had no control over her vocal cords, judging by the sound that emitted from her, when the barrel soared through the air into nothingness. Emelia felt Fili pull her closer, gripping onto her like his life depended on it as they tumbled through the air.

Emelia's teeth slammed together in a jarring way when they finally collided with the water. They sunk down into it for a moment, a rush of cold water washing over their heads and down to their feet, before they popped back up like apples bobbing in a bucket. Their barrel was sitting lower in the water than Emelia would have liked, resulting in more and more water spilling over the sides. Their clothes were soaked through, leaving them both waterlogged and sick feeling.

Emelia was the first one to stick her head out of the barrel when the violent motion finally settled down. Fili followed closely after, throwing his sopping hair out of his face. Fili immediately began to look for Kili, which she had expected. He began to look panicked when he couldn't find him instantly.

"I'm right here, Fili." Kili came up next to their barrel, using his arms as paddles. He seemed slightly nauseous from the fall and his hair was soaked, but he was unhurt. Emelia felt a small knot in her chest that she hadn't been previously aware of loosen ever so slightly. She noticed that he did his absolute best to avoid looking at her from her spot from behind Fili. She pushed the hurt that it caused down. "You aren't hurt, are you?"

"No." Fili responded, reaching his own arms down to begin paddling. Thorin was already getting farther and farther ahead of them in the short time they had been talking. Emelia imagined he was about as eager to get away from the elves as she was.

"Well done, Mister Baggins." Emelia smiled at Thorin's praise to Bilbo. "You as well, Emelia." Emelia smiled even wider.

"Let's go."

Emelia gripped the sides of the barrel as Fili used his arms to move them forward. The amount of water spilling in was concerning to say the least. Emelia tried to scoop it out, but felt like she was fighting a losing battle when more water came flooding back in to replace what she had just gotten rid of. She was just about to tell Fili about the problem when they went tumbling over a small waterfall unexpectedly. Emelia's forehead smacked into Fili's back at the impact. He pulled his arms in to brace them against the sides for the impact, resulting in them losing their navigation. They bounced around aimlessly, taking on even more water as they went. Fili managed to resurface first, followed shortly by Emelia. She spit out a slew of water, coughing painfully.

She wasn't sure why, but this escape was markedly less glamorous the ones she had seen in movies.

"Emelia?" Fili craned his neck to get a better look at her.

"I'm fine." Emelia said quickly, feeling uncomfortable with him looking at her.

"You're lying again."

"Now isn't exactly the time to talk about it, Fee." She paused, looking away from him. "Fili."

He looked like he wanted to say more, but ultimately thought better of it. They were saved from more awkwardness by a shout that reverberated through the trees.

"Shut the gate!"

Emelia turned around in the barrel, eyes widening when she saw the elves standing guard at the small gate in front of them. Whatever fantasies, if that's what they could be called, about escaping from the elves in a sneaky manner evaporated instantly.

"No!"

Emelia felt all her anxiety, which she hadn't realized had lessened during her short reunion with the dwarves, bubbling back up as she watched the armed elves shut the gate in front of them. The sound of it slamming seemed to reverberate through her chest. Thorin attempted to open it by sheer force alone, but Emelia knew it wouldn't work. Nothing like that ever did, especially when Emelia wanted and needed it to. The elves guarding the gate were armed to the teeth, which made Emelia even more apprehensive about the situation. The thought of the elves forcing her back into her room for some undetermined amount of time made her insides squirm painfully. The more morbid scenario of them killing the dwarves, Bilbo, and Emelia popped into her head, making the situation about a million times worse.

All of their barrels bumbled together under the gate, ramming into each other as they stacked up under the elves feet. Emelia's hand reached down to Fili's shirt, grabbing it subconsciously as she stared up at the two elves on the small bridge.

She was staring up at them, wondering if Bacon and Eggs might be not as effective as she had originally thought, when the elf closest to them fell face first into the water. His body slammed into their barrel, knocking it sideways into the rock wall on their left. Emelia let out an involuntary gasp of pain when her hand scrapped along the rough surface. She barely caught sight of the end of a black arrow sticking out of the back of the elf before his body sunk under the surface of the water and out of sight.

Emelia couldn't tear her eyes away from the trail of blood that was left behind in the choppy water. She couldn't help but wonder if the elf had been one of her guards at some point. She blinked, forcing herself to focus her attention back on the ever worsening situation in front of her. Things were progressively worse much quicker than Emelia would have thought possible. She had imagined a surprising number of terrible things, yet somehow she didn't think there was much worse than being stuck in a barrel that was inconveniently stuck behind a gate surrounded by elves and orcs that wanted nothing more than to kill her and her friends.

Emelia felt a pair of hands on the top of her head suddenly, pushing her down into the barrel. She struggled against the hands, elbowing Fili until he finally let her back up.

"For the love of," Fili sounded very exasperated with her. "I'm trying to help you avoid getting your stubborn head chopped off."

Emelia instantly realized Fili was right to try and shield her head. She had barely had time to poke her head out of the barrel when a particularly large orc came out of nowhere. It grabbed the barrel, brandishing a sword that was probably larger than Emelia, and attempted to stab her directly in the face. She launched herself backwards, throwing her hands up in self-defense.

"Duck!"

Emelia didn't need to be told twice. She shrunk into the barrel, covering her head with her hands as she felt Fili reaching over her to attempt to kill the orc. She was shoved face first into the side of the barrel as Fili wrestled with the orc, but she found she didn't mind.

She would take a little facial bruising over a little facial stabbing any day of the week.

If it had been any other situation she would have been horribly uncomfortable with how much Fili was pressed up against her. She thought, considering the circumstances, that it was hardly something to be thinking about. Emelia felt their barrel sink into the river even more before they bobbed back up.

"Emelia?"

"Is it dead?" Emelia peered up, hands still covering her head.

"Yes."

"Is it safe?"

"No, not particularly." Fili moved back, reaching down his hands to her shoulders. Emelia could hardly hear him over the sounds of the struggle happening on the walkway above their heads. There was screaming, both elf and orc, and the strangled sounds that sounded like someone choking on blood. "Just stay down."

"Kili!" Emelia, who had been planning on listening to Fili's instructions, immediately forgot them entirely. "Take this!"

Emelia pushed Fili and his arms out of the way as she fought to see Kili and what sort of stupid thing he was doing this time.

She watched, with no small amount of horror, as Kili vaulted himself out of his barrel. He hardly seemed bothered by the orcs that were currently trying to kill him. He chopped through them one by one, sending them flying into the water as he went. She couldn't tear her eyes way from him. Her hands gripped the side of the barrel so tightly they lost all color and her tendons stuck out painfully. He looked very small compared to all those orcs, which was odd to her considering she had always thought him to be a person of substantial size, as compared to midgety self. She was thankful Fili was there holding her back, otherwise she would have done something stupid, something that she would probably live, or not live, to regret. Something along the lines of following after him and killing every last one of those monsters that even thought about hurting him.

She thought her heart was going to beat out of her chest when he didn't see the orc with the spear coming up behind him. Emelia hardly noticed the knife that went flying through the air from behind her. It imbedded into the orc's head, killing it instantly. Kili didn't even notice. He just moved on and lobbed off the head of the orc in front of him. The head went flying off, narrowly missing smacking Emelia straight in the face as it went. He moved on to the next one, hardly paying attention to the chaos around him. Emelia did not like the way he was fighting. She wasn't an expert, about as far from it as possible really, but she knew he was being too sloppy.

"That reckless…What the hell does he think he is doing?" Emelia asked aiming her question at no one in particular. "He's going to get himse…"

She shouldn't have jinxed it. He did get himself hurt just like she had thought he would.

Emelia was certain she had stopped breathing.

"Kili!"

Emelia wasn't sure what she was doing when she started pushing her way out of the barrel. She did know that Kili was hurt and she hadn't thought of that as being a possibility before now. Her vision blurred when the arrow hit his leg, clouding until all she saw was the look of pain and fear on his face. Her lungs felt like they had simultaneously dried up and flooded all while struggling to keep pulling in air. Her foot slipped on the side of the barrel, sending her crashing into the wall beside them. It seemed that was enough to draw Fili's attention away from Kili for the briefest of moments.

"Emelia Kinsington Montgomery, you leave this barrel and I will personally kill you."

"He's…"

She struggled to pull her way out of the barrel yet again. Fili was forced to wrap his arms around her waist and haul her back down. He ignored the sharpness of her elbows as she fought against him. Her legs slammed against the inside of the barrel, making it groan in protest.

"Emmy, please." Fili shoved her back down in the barrel, pinning her arms to her sides with his own arms. She noticed for the first time how panicked his voice sounded. Emelia wasn't sure how Fili expected her to be rational. It had never been her strong suit. "I can't be worrying about you and him, so please, just stay in the damn barrel."

Emelia listened to him for a fraction of a moment before she shook her head and started fighting to get out of the barrel once again.

"For the love of Mahal." Fili wrapped his arms around her, pinning her arms to her sides in an almost painful manner.

Emelia felt like she was in the middle of a very unfunny sitcom without a laugh track. She certainly wasn't laughing. Every moment that Kili laid on the ground with his hands gripping his wound was horrendously awful. She just knew that at any moment an orc was going to come along and kill him. She just knew that at any moment something terrible was going to happen while she just sat there and watched.

She was too busy caught up in her own bubble of fear to notice Tauriel. One moment Emelia was watching Kili writhing on the ground in pain, surrounded by orcs, and the next he was somehow managing to pull the lever down to open the gate. He was able to crawl his way over to the edge while Tauriel, the perfect little red-head that she was, was able to kill the orcs that surrounded them.

Kili hauled himself over the edge of the bridge and into the empty barrel next to Emelia and Fili just in time before it started moving with the current along with the rest of them. The arrow snapped off, causing Kili to cry out in pain. Fili's arms slacked around Emelia as he leaned around her to check on his younger brother.

Emelia, ever the opportunists, immediately scrambled out of Fili's grasp in his moment of slacking judgment. Emelia vaulted herself out of the barrel with Fili and over into the barrel with Kili with all the agility of an overweight gymnast. Fili cursed loudly, hands struggling to grab her before she got too far away. She managed to slip herself in behind a very dazed Kili, shooting Fili a triumphant smirk.

Kili made a noise of protest, only to be silenced by Emelia.

"You are more than welcome to hate me. But that doesn't change the fact," She paused, shifting in the barrel to make it easier to grip the sides as they started to pick up speed. "Well that doesn't change the fact that I am not going to let you, well, I'm not going to let you die."

"Emelia…" Kili managed to keep himself upright despite all the rapids.

"You can hit me for this later." Emelia said, remembering the situation after the Goblin King that seemed like it had happened ages ago. He had said the same thing to her when she had been hurt. "It'll be fine, Kee. You'll be fine. I promise."

* * *

Emelia was practically supporting Kili by the time the water finally calmed down enough for them to pull themselves to the rocky shore. His body was slumped back against her despite the fact that he had flat out refused to speak to her. Their barrel was practically in pieces by the time they bumped into the rocks and so full of water Emelia was surprised it was still afloat. All of the other dwarves' barrels were much the same. Ori and Bombur were in ones that were riddled with so many arrow holes it was amazing neither of them was injured more than just a cut here or a gash there. Maybe they were injured and it all looked tame compared to Kili. Either way, she hardly paid them any attention, as awful as that made her.

She was able to support him long enough to get them onto the rocks before she collapsed, soaking wet and exhausted.

"I will not be doing that again." She muttered so that only he would be able to hear. Kili groaned next to her, sounding like he was in the worst pain in his entire life. She took that as a response, although she would have preferred that he actually spoke to her.

Emelia sat up immediately leaning over to get a better look at him. Fili, who had been shaking out his sore limbs, hurriedly sat down on Kili's other side, wrapping an arm around him to help him into a sitting position. Kili groaned again, head lulling back slightly. The sun highlighted the green tone to his face, which made Emelia fidgety.

"Kili? Can you hear me?" She debated for a moment before she reached out a hand to lightly slap his face. "Kili, if you're purposefully ignoring me…"

"Emelia stop hitting him." Fili said in an admonishing tone.

"He isn't responding. Why isn't he responding?"

"I would if you would…" Kili's voice trailed off as he chocked down what sounded like a large amount of bile. "If you would stop harassing me."

Emelia pulled her hands back instantly, crossing her arms over her chest as she pursed her lips angrily. Fili shot Emelia a look over Kili's shoulders, which she wasn't exactly sure how to properly interpret. She was saved from the inevitably uncomfortable conversation that she was sure to have with Kili by Thorin's impatient voice.

"Gather yourselves quickly, we must move on before more orcs come."

"Kili's injured."

"Bind his leg quickly then."

Emelia wasn't sure if that was the response she would have offered if she had been faced with one of her hypothetical nieces or nephew's potentially life-threatening injury, but she didn't dare question him, as much as she wanted to. Fili didn't seem to be of the same mindset, seeing as how he stood up instantly and turned to face Thorin with an angry look on his face.

"Uncle, he's hurt."

"Oin! Now!"

Emelia winced, looking away from Thorin and back to Kili. He was currently trying to subtly, or not so subtly, move away from her.

"You can't be serious?"

"I," Kili winced, hands clenching around his leg. Blood and some oozy substance that Emelia didn't care to think about spilled out over his dirty fingers. "I don't want to be near you."

"I, well, I guess that's fair." Emelia stood up, debating whether she wanted to cry or hit something. Both seemed like good enough options for her at the moment. She started to walk away from him, hands shaking before she stopped dead in her tracks. It would probably be better if she didn't say anything, considering how most of the dwarves felt about her currently, but she just couldn't bring herself to. She turned back around, placing her hands on her hips. "Actually, no. No it's not fair."

Kili seemed surprised at the tone of her voice. He wasn't the only one. The other dwarves, all of whom were in the process of attempting to slough some of the excess water out of their beards or their clothes, stopped what they were doing to look over at the two of them. Fili turned away from Thorin, a nervous look on his face. He glanced between them, seeming to hope that this little conflict would be over sooner rather than later.

Emelia ignored them all. She would deal with them later.

"I understand that you think I was living in luxury while you were in prison. I get that, I would probably think so too if our roles were reversed. And I get that when I said you kidnapped me it seemed pretty bad and all. More than bad actually, considering it kind of made me seem like a raging unthankful bitch. But, you should know before you continue treating me like week old horseshit that I was doing exactly what Thorin told me to do."

Kili looked over at his uncle with an expectant look on his face. Thorin raised his eyebrows in surprise at being brought into the uncomfortable conversation.

"I didn't tell you to pretend to be kidnapped. You made that all up on your own."

"You aren't helping, Thorin." Emelia said, sensing that none of the dwarves seemed to understand what she was trying to say. "Ugh, okay I'll make this simple. I didn't choose the elves over you. While they're all uncomfortably attractive, they aren't you and that means that no matter how perfect they debatably are, I would never ever in a million years think about choosing them."

"You looked pretty chummy with them." Dwalin said angrily.

"I seemed pretty chummy with you but I wouldn't want people to judge me too harshly for that either." Emelia said nastily, remembering the rather recent event of him slamming her into a beam. "Well, I thought we were chummy before you assaulted me."

Dwalin smartly declined to respond to her.

"I think this has been a rather productive use of our time." Bilbo cut across the palpable silence that had followed Emelia's words. Dwalin had the decency to look ashamed, which seemed to appease Emelia for the time being. "But I think we would be wise to move on."

"I think you're right Bilbo." Emelia said quietly, a small amount of hope lacing her voice. She didn't look at Bilbo when she spoke, choosing instead to stare at the back of Kili's head.

Thorin, expressing a surprising amount of silence in response to Emelia's tirade, finally took control of the situation. "Fili, your brother is your responsibility…"

"I don't need a keeper." Kili swayed dangerously as he put weight on his injured leg, before he was finally able to balance himself. Emelia couldn't help but snort, which she imagined might have been a coping mechanism to avoid stressing about the amount of blood he was losing. He immediately looked over at her, glaring at her with full force. "Emelia."

"Kili."

"Emelia." He sounded even more annoyed than before. "Keep your opinionated snorting to yourself."

"Only if you promise to stop looking at me like, well, like that." She waved her hands, very much aware of all the dwarves watching them.

"I'll look at you however I like."

"Then you have no right to tell me to stop snorting at you however I want." Emelia took a step closer, pointing her finger shakily. "Now, I'm fairly sure there are orcs still out there, so arguing with you seems counterproductive and Tauriel , the perfect little brat that she is, can only save our asses for so long."

"Then maybe you should st…"

"Just shut up. God, I can't believe I missed you as much as I did. I should have spent my time on more important things than you. You know, Kili, I really didn't like you when we met and somehow you and your stupid self managed to make me lo…" Emelia stopped mid-sentence, more and more horror washing over her with each moment that passed. She turned to face Bilbo, wanting nothing more than sink into the earth and die. "Bilbo, you said something about needed to leave, right?"

"What did you just almost say?" Kili asked, completely oblivious to Emelia's embarrassment.

"Loofa. I was going to say loofa."

"No you weren't."

"I promise I was. Loofas, they are so, so important. But Bilbo, really, I think you were right. Orcs. Big nasty orcs. We should go."

Loofa. Of all the words in the world to come up with, she had to go with loofa. However, it wasn't the part that bothered her the most. What bothered her the most was what she almost said. The words were like vomit spewing from her in the worst possible time. The. Worst. Possible. Time. She wanted to punch herself, but even more so, she wanted to cry into a bowl of ice cream like a love-struck middle schooler. She felt about as awkward as one.

"Well, I for one am happy things are back to how they used to be." Fili said, a wicked smirk on his face as he looked in between Emelia and Kili. "Nice and functional."


End file.
